229079 Employer Interviews: Exploring Differences in Reporting Work Injuries and Illnesses in the Bureau of Labor Statistics Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses and State Workers' Compensation Claims

Wednesday, November 10, 2010 : 9:15 AM - 9:30 AM

Polly Phipps, PhD , Office of Survey Methods Research, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, DC
Danna Moore, Phd , Social and Economic Sciences Research Center, Washington State University, Pullman, WA
     
Recent studies have cited discrepancies between the BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) and State Workers' Compensation claims to support the assertion that the SOII undercounts injuries and illnesses among the American workforce. To explore reasons for possible discrepancies, we conduct qualitative interviews with employers responding to the SOII, in the Washington DC metropolitan area and the State of Kentucky. Our in-person interviews focus on possible measurement errors associated with establishment record keeping systems, respondent knowledge and experience, and understanding of the survey request. Early results suggest that the varying roles of respondents in SOII and WC reporting, understanding of reporting rules, records systems and survey timing, and injury and illness case complexity all may play a role in the discrepancies.

Learning Areas:
Occupational health and safety

Learning Objectives:
identify and evaluate reasons for differences in workplace injuries and illnesses between survey and administrative records

Keywords: Occupational Injury and Death, Occupational Surveillance

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I conduct research and evaluate survey methods on workplace safety and health issues for the bureau of labor statistics
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 5069.0: Addressing undercounting in the BLS annual survey (SOII)