A Smarter National Surveillance System for Occupational Safety and Health in the 21st Century (2018) / Chapter Skim
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8 Next Steps for Improving Worker Safety and Health Through a Smarter Occupational Surveillance System
8 Next Steps for Improving Worker Safety and Health Through a Smarter Occupational Surveillance System
Pages 249-260
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From page 249... ...
report, greater advances can be made through the application of new technologies, systems approaches, and coordinated efforts. This final chapter collects the recommended components of an action plan to move toward a smarter and more dynamic OSH surveillance system.
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Engagement of employers and health care providers will result in substantive improvements by augmenting existing resources (e.g., effective collaboration with workers' compensation systems, efficient implementation of electronic reporting, including occupational information in electronic
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In addition, software needs to be designed and disseminated so that all relevant stakeholders can undertake their own examination of surveillance information so that they can act on findings as quickly as possible to improve health and safety for workers regardless of setting or context. The committee has based its analysis and recommendations on an understanding that desired improvements in worker safety and health are more likely to be met when an adequate amount of information is available at a level of detail sufficient to facilitate effective public health actions.
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Prioritize and Coordinate OSH Surveillance First and foremost, surveillance for occupational health and safety needs to become a priority if it is to serve the core function of providing the information essential to guide public health actions to improve worker safety and health. The committee recognizes that surveillance often exists in the background of public health programs, rising to a level of importance only at times that call for emergency action.
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And it will need to safeguard privacy and confidentiality, monitor data quality to ensure program efficiency and impact, and be staffed by well-trained public health professionals with access to the tools and technology necessary to achieve surveillance objectives. The envisioned strategic plan would need to provide an overall vision and framework for OSH surveillance for the nation that government agencies and stakeholders will then implement.
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Together, coordinated federal and state systems offer immense advantages over either operating independently. The report accordingly stresses the value of an effective federal-state partnership and strengthened state efforts, both to facilitate and serve a coordinated national effort to identify and monitor priority conditions and emerging problems, and to foster prevention programs at the level that can best address these concerns (Recommendation C)
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Further, many of the systems that collect information on injuries and illnesses do not collect occupationally-related data. One of the major inputs to OSH surveillance is through the SOII and the report discusses needed enhancements to the SOII, including those that would better inform surveillance and related public health actions for undererved populations.
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. The latter recommendation addresses the unparalleled opportunity to gain information on the distribution of exposure-related factors in a manner modeled on the highly successful experience in the European Union, which has over 25 years of experience in such efforts.
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It is accordingly essential that a program that provides for better reporting, such as the OSHA electronic reporting initiative, needs to be accompanied by a robust plan for the analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of the resulting information. The committee thus calls on OSHA and its sister agencies and stakeholders to develop and publicize plans to maximize the utility of their new electronic reporting initiative by providing means and methods for ongoing analysis and dissemination of these data with special attention to serving individual employer needs, while simultaneously minimizing duplication of reporting by employers (Recommendation E)
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Ensuring and improving worker safety and health is a commitment taken seriously, and diligently acted upon, by numerous federal, state, and local agencies; workers and worker organizations; employers and employer organizations; and many others. More can be done to inform and improve these efforts through strengthening OSH surveillance in the United States.
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2017. Research on the completeness of the injury and illness counts from the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses.
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