249961 Surveillance of work-related injuries: Should health departments tell OSHA?

Monday, October 31, 2011

Elise Pechter, MPH CIH , Occupational Health Surveillance Program, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Boston, MA
Background and objective

With NIOSH funding, many state health departments conduct surveillance of work-related injuries and illnesses, which identify workplace hazards that caused injuries or illnesses. OSHA enforces laws that guarantee safe workplaces. However, the data used to prioritize OSHA inspections has frequently been incomplete. State health departments and OSHA are exploring ways to collaborate to ensure surveillance leads to intervention, and to provide meaningful data to complement OSHA targeting efforts.

Methods

Twenty-three states conduct a minimum level of occupational health surveillance, 8 states do in-depth surveillance of targeted conditions, and 41 states participate in adult lead surveillance. State health surveillance representatives, along with OSHA, NIOSH and CSTE planned a meeting in March 2011 to share experiences. Referrals by health departments to OSHA in several states are now being evaluated.

Results

Targeted OSHA inspections in response to health department referrals in some states have been successful, especially regarding lead, asthmagens and amputation hazards. Barriers to sharing injury and illness data include concerns regarding: confidentiality, discouraging healthcare provider reports, fear of retaliation against workers, and disquiet about health department involvement leading to enforcement against businesses.

Conclusion

Occupational injuries and illnesses are indicators of failures of prevention. Surveillance includes the responsibility to take action. Enforcement of existing OSHA laws is a straightforward method to improve safety in the workplace and use sentinel health data to ensure abatement of hazards that have already led to harm. Health departments should refer workplaces to OSHA for inspections of hazards revealed through surveillance.

Learning Areas:
Occupational health and safety

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe health departments' goals to implement surveillance to action. 2. Define the responsibility to refer workplaces with hazards that resulted in harm to OSHA for enforcement. 3. Name workplace injuries or illnesses that should be investigated by OSHA.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am an experienced public health intervention coordinator, a certified industrial hygienist with nearly 30 years of seniority in state occupational health and safety agencies.
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.

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