Surveillance of Occupational Illness and Injury in the United States: Current Perspectives and Future Directions

Surveillance of occupational illness and injury is essential for targeting workplace prevention efforts. Surveillance systems should include mechanisms for standar- dized data collection, data analysis, and dissemination of results to “all who need to know.” In occupational health, surveillance systems are less developed than in communicable disease prevention. The disparity exists because occupational health surveillance is conceptually more complex and is limited by legal and social impediments. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has listed improvement in systems for occupational illness and injury surveillance as a top organizational priority. In this paper, we review current approaches to surveillance designed to identify cases of occupational illness or injury or to monitor secular trends. Gaps in the surveillance effort include the absence of a functional system for practitioner reporting of selected occupational disorders and a standard approach to collection of certain health data. NIOSH programs designed to address these limitations include a Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risks (SENSOR) which links health care providers with state health departments for the purpose of reporting and follow-up of cases of occupational illness and injury. Other new programs are designed to improve the quality of existing data sources for use in surveillance and to develop new approaches to data collection.