Inclusion of Work Information as Data Elements in CDC Surveillance Systems

Details

• Personal Author:
  Watkins SM
• Description:
  The U.S. population currently exceeds 308 million, and nearly 60 percent of the population is employed. These employed U.S. residents spend almost half their waking hours at work. CSTE has long recognized that occupational illnesses, injuries, and exposures are important causes of morbidity and mortality in the US. Approximately 6,500 job-related deaths from injury, 13.2 million nonfatal injuries, 60,300 deaths from disease, and 862,200 illnesses are estimated to occur annually in the civilian workforce. The total direct ($65 billion) plus indirect ($106 billion) costs have been estimated to be $171 billion annually. The work environment can have a significant impact on workers' health, the health of family members, and the public at large. Work is a well-recognized influence on health through exposures to physical, chemical, radiological, biological, and ergonomic hazards; psychosocial factors; and organizational attributes of the workplace. Less well understood by public health practitioners is how work influences both risk factors and health conditions. CSTE has produced a white paper on this issue, "The case for collecting occupational health data elements in electronic health records" (available on CSTE website). Recent efforts in other federal health surveys are important to note. In 2012, the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) Subcommittee on Population Health heard presentations on key components of socioeconomic status (SES) as they considered minimum standards for SES measurement in federal health surveys. In a June 2012 letter to DHHS Secretary Sebelius [NCVHS 2012], the NCVHS confirmed that the collection of information on occupation is a key data element necessary for the measurement of socioeconomic status and provides important information related to health and health outcomes. The Committee further stated that a minimum of two standardized questions should be implemented, one to collect industry and one to collect occupation. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Epidemiology Mortality Occupational Diseases Occupational Health Public Health Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Fatalities Injuries Occupational Diseases Occupations Public Health Surveillance Work Environment Worker Health Work Organization
• Publisher:
  Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  Florida ; Georgia ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20061569
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, 14-OH-02, 2014 Jul; :1-7
• Email:
  Sharon.watkins@flhealth.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• Performing Organization:
  Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, Atlanta, Georgia
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20110701
• Source Full Name:
  Inclusion of work information as data elements in CDC surveillance systems
• End Date:
  20190630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:21bc1da88ce1393e7432e926f19558604f10c3f70e4166eab5e81b78a14264f36364814a20bba7bfc813ee8dcadaaf944c375d875e0c538e95fb620bbea66e80
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/225072/cdc_225072_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 126.06 KB ]