Understanding the survey of occupational injuries and illnesses and concerns about completeness

The Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), is the primary nonfatal workplace injury surveillance system in the United States. SOII data are captured annuallly from a sample of private employers and State and local governments, who are required by law to maintain records of workplace injuries and illnesses during the survey year, based on Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rules. After the end of the year, data are compiled by BLS, which publishes injury counts and rates, and worker and case details for more severe injuries. Concerns about completeness of the SOII data stem from several issues, including definitions (which differ from workers' compensation and other systems), employer knowledge of these definitions, reports of employees who are reluctant to report injuries, reports of employers who do not maintain accurate records, and lack of SOII coverage for certain worker groups, such as the self-employed. Congressional hearings in the late 2000s led to funding for BLS to research certain issues surrounding the completeness of occupational injury and illness data. Research includes comparing SOII and workers compensation data to determine what cases SOII might be missing; compiling data from multiple sources to enumerate all work injuries (not just those defined by OSHA); and interviewing employers about their knowledge of injury recording requirements. The results, provided in the subsequent sessions, identify some undercounting in SOII, challenges to large scale multi-source enumeration of work injuries, and variation in employer knowledge regarding work injury recording.