Learning About Reporting By Linking Workers' Compensation and Bureau of Labor Statistics Data

The two most important sources of reporting of nonfatal injuries and illnesses in the United States are state workers' compensation data and the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses. Research in this area, culminating with several recent studies linking individual injuries, have raised questions about the level of reporting to both systems. Both systems can be used to measure injury frequency and severity and as potential sources of injury surveillance. Yet underreporting could lead to misleading conclusions from these data sources.

This presentation reviews recent studies linking these two data sources and describes current research focusing on understanding the situations in which injuries and illnesses are most likely to be underreported. The recent and ongoing studies link the two data sources at the level of the injury and use the linked data to determine the level of reporting and to examine factors affecting reporting. The presentation will describe both the challenges of drawing inferences from linked datasets and initial results of the latest studies.