Exploratory Analysis of Pennsylvania Occupational Health Indicators (OHIs) Report (2013-2019)

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Pennsylvania Department of Health. Bureau of Epidemiology
• Description:
  The Pennsylvania Department of Health's (DOH) Pennsylvania Occupational Safety and Health Surveillance program (PennOSHS) serves to fill a much-needed gap to collect, analyze, interpret, and disseminate data related to workers and worker health while simultaneously identifying and engaging a diverse group of partners and stakeholders. The goal of the program is to contribute to reducing occupational morbidity and mortality and occupational health disparities in Pennsylvania. This exploratory occupational health report documents occupational health and safety data trends in Pennsylvania and will provide Pennsylvanians with information about current trends in occupational health data not previously available to the public. The Council of State Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) created the occupational health indicators (OHIs), which are measures of work-related disease, injury, or health factors, including workplace exposures, hazards, and interventions. The OHIs can be used to develop relevant workplace injury and illness prevention strategies. This report explores trends over time, from 2013 to 2019, for 12 of 25 OHIs. Of the 12 indicators evaluated, it was found that six indicators (related to non-fatal injuries and illnesses, work-related hospitalizations, musculoskeletal disorders, pneumoconiosis hospitalizations and mortality, and adult blood lead levels) had significant decreases in rates over the time period. From 2013 to 2019, there were no indicators that showed a significant increase. Large fluctuations in trends over time can be seen for one indicator, asthma. Fluctuations in asthma caused or made worse by work, suggest that PennOSHS should prioritize investment of additional resources to collect more nuanced work-related asthma data and provide educational materials to employers, their employees, and the public. PennOSHS plans to collaborate with PA DOH Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) program to monitor adult asthma in PA through emergency department syndromic surveillance data. PennOSHS will continue to monitor the OHIs presented in the report, calculate the additional 13 OHIs, and search for opportunities to identify new measures of occupational related health concerns and disparities. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Occupational Health
  • Public Health
  • Safety
• Keywords:
  • Surveillance programs; Worker health; Worker safety; Occupational health; Occupational diseases; Public health; Epidemiology
• Source:
  Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Department of Health, 2023 Dec; :1-43
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  43 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20071605
• Email:
  dehe@pa.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2024
• Performing Organization:
  Pennsylvania State Department of Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20210701
• End Date:
  20260630
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/259380/cdc_259380_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.00 MB]
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:772573812b714dc4e6dc9c95cd660a25ddc16b8f22924278f069f55958a15f99e1546c3d5b35fb9acb182ec8c7217e420ef33dcd9f52252462f3dcfe0feae3dd