Katherine L. Hunting , Janie Gittleman, Michael McCann, Manuel A. Mederos and Jim Tomaseski
Since 1986, the
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) has asked its
locals to report fatalities and certain types of non-fatal injuries
and illnesses. A standard form exists for this purpose. Close to 1,500
such reports are received every year by IBEW's Safety & Health
Department.
These reports can be an incredibly rich resource for understanding injury and illness patterns among IBEW members, and for targeting prevention activities. However, because their utility has not been demonstrated at the International or Local level, this potential has not been realized. The reports have not been systematically computerized; reporting is neither complete nor standardized. The injury/illness reports, along with the reporting infrastructure already in place, thus represent an underutilized but potentially valuable resource for IBEW's safety and health mission.
IBEW, The Center to Protect Workers' Rights, and the George Washington University have begun a collaborative effort to utilize these reports for prevention. We have developed a Microsoft Access database for the injury/illness reports, and are conducting data entry for a pilot analysis. IBEW will continue data entry on an ongoing basis. Future efforts include using a participatory approach to develop a full-scale injury/illness tracking activity with the following elements:
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NOTE: This document is provided for historical purposes only.