Syndromic surveillance for occupational health surveillance: guidance document and examples.

Details

• Description:
  Non-fatal occupational injuries and illnesses place a significant burden on the United States (U.S.) population. In 2018 the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimated that there were 2.8 million non-fatal work-related injuries and illnesses, a rate of 2.8 cases per 100 full-time equivalent workers (BLS, 2019). A 2011 study estimated the economic burden for non-fatal work-related injuries and illnesses in 2007 as $198 billion (Leigh, 2011). Surveillance of work-related injuries and illnesses plays an important part in improving the health and safety of workers by informing intervention and prevention strategies. In the U.S., non-fatal occupational injuries and illnesses are surveilled using a combination of different data sources. Current data sources include Hospital Discharge data, Emergency Discharge data, State Workers' Compensation, and the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), which is conducted annually by the BLS. One resource, which provides some initial guidance on conducting occupational health surveillance using these types of data sources, is the Occupational Health Indicators (OHIs) guidance document compiled by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) in collaboration with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) (CSTE, 2017). Hospital discharge and emergency discharge data are usually filtered by Workers' Compensation as primary payer and results in under-reporting of occupational cases which may not show the true burden. This under-reporting could be due to workers not filing a claim because they may use other insurance to file the claim; they may not want to miss work; are afraid they may lose their job; the injury may not seem severe enough to file a claim; state laws which restrict eligibility for Workers' Compensation; or administrative barriers to filing for Workers' Compensation benefits. (Shannon, 2002; Rosenman, 2000) Another limitation is that there is often a delay in when data are received, the length of which can vary by state and by data source. There may be a lag from three months to two years as seen with the SOII data. Each data source used for occupational health surveillance captures a slightly different population and different information. Traditionally syndromic surveillance is used as an early warning to respond to potential outbreaks in a community. Syndromic surveillance data differ by state but generally include hospitalizations, emergency department (ED) and clinical visits, collected in near real-time. A few states have begun evaluating the extension of a real-time syndromic surveillance tool to identify work-related ED visits, but syndromic surveillance has not been widely applied by occupational health to identify work related injuries and illnesses. The incorporation of multiple data sources for occupational health surveillance is useful in capturing additional work-related cases and can provide helpful information on the distribution of work-related injuries (Borjan, 2017; Davis, 2014; Kica, 2012). Syndromic surveillance has the potential to capture cases that typically may not be captured by other systems (e.g., self-employed workers). Additionally, syndromic surveillance systems capture data that can be used to identify work-related injuries and illnesses independent of the expected payer information and could be useful in identifying disparities which may exist among vulnerable workers who have larger barriers to filing for Workers' Compensation. Syndromic surveillance can also provide data in real-time allowing for a more rapid response. The purpose of the Occupational Syndromic Surveillance Working Group is to produce a document that contains a syndromic surveillance primer and guidance for occupational health professionals to explore this new data source for occupational health surveillance in their own states. Additionally, it will provide opportunities for occupational health programs to intersect and work with other public health disciplines and may provide opportunities to collaborate with the CSTE Surveillance/Informatics Steering Committee. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Economics Epidemiology Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Injuries; Bureau of Labor Statistics; BLS; Economic impact; Epidemiology; Surveillance; Workers Compensation
• Publisher:
  Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Guidance
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; Georgia ; Louisiana ; Michigan ; Missouri ; Oregon ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 6 ; OSHA Region 7 ; Texas
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-27
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20065873
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), Occupational Health Surveillance Subcommittee, 2021 Mar; :1-27
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2021
• Performing Organization:
  New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Syndromic surveillance for occupational health surveillance: guidance document and examples
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:acda00e7f76f5eb089962766cccb3ab1228eefa543281d6378353963ecfdb896f3d29dd380e69cdb4e5b971d866665d7710cde8d14c026fdb76e816c772a5325
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/249581/cdc_249581_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 552.39 KB ]