TRAUMATIC OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES

Data and Statistics

Identifying problems in traumatic injury research, as in much of public health, is driven by surveillance. Surveillance is "the ongoing collection, analysis and interpretation of health data in the process of describing and monitoring a health [injury] event."* For occupational safety research, this refers to the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data on injuries, hazards, and exposures for identifying potential risk factors for further research, and for prevention planning and intervention evaluation. (From Traumatic Occupational Injury Research Needs and Priorities: A Report by the NORA Traumatic Injury Team, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 98-134.)

* Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). [1988] Guidelines for Evaluating Surveillance Systems. MMWR 37 (S-5):1-18. May 6, 1988.

Fatal Injury Data

The NIOSH Worker Health Chartbook, 2004 — Fatal Injury Charts

NIOSH National Traumatic Occupational Fatality (NTOF) Surveillance System
NTOF provides a nationwide surveillance system for occupational injury deaths. NTOF is based on death certificates as a sole source of case identification and has been estimated to include an average of 81 percent of all occupational injury deaths nationwide. NTOF data are currently available for the years 1980 through 1995. NTOF is the most comprehensive source of data on occupational injury fatalities prior to 1992.

• Fatal Injuries to Civilian Workers in the United States, 1980-1995, National Profile
• Fatal Injuries to Civilian Workers in the United States, 1980-1995, National and State Profiles
• Fatal Injuries to Workers in the U.S., 1980-1989: A Decade of Surveillance: National
• Fatal Injuries to Workers in the U.S., 1980-1989: A Decade of Surveillance: National and State Profiles
• National Mortality Profile of Active Duty Personnel in the U.S. Armed Forces: 1980-1993

Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) Injuries, Illnesses and Fatalities Web site

BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI)
--a national census of occupational injury fatalities, including self-employed workers, agricultural workers, and government employees. CFOI, developed and maintained by BLS, uses multiple sources of information, e.g. death certificates, OSHA reports, workers' compensation data, police reports, and newspaper clippings. CFOI is a Federal/State cooperative program in which costs are shared. States provide data to BLS for inclusion in a national database and maintain their own State databases.

Nonfatal Injury Data

Work-RISQS: Work-Related Injury Statistics Query System
Work-RISQS is an interactive system for obtaining national estimates (number of cases) and rates (number of cases per hours worked) for nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments.

NIOSH collaborates with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to capture nonfatal work-related injuries and illnesses treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments by using the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). NEISS data are the basis of the Work-RISQS results.

The NIOSH Worker Health Chartbook, 2004 — Nonfatal Injury Charts

BLS Annual Survey Data

Other Links:

Tracking Occupational Injuries, Illnesses, and Hazards: The NIOSH Surveillance Strategic Plan