Jim Cone, MD, MPH¹, Luiz Pereira², Susan A Wilt, DrPH³, Pia Davaris-Savino², Nancy Jeffery⁴, Daniel Kass, MSPH⁵, and Jessica Leighton, PhD⁶. (1) Environmental and Occupational Disease Epidemiology, Dept of Health and Mental Hygiene New York City, 253 Broadway, Room 602, CN 34-C, New York, NY 10007, (2) Center for Youth Violence Prevention, School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 West 168th Street, 10th Fl, New York, NY 10032, 212.305.8213, lpereir@health.nyc.gov, (3) Office of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, New York City Department of Health, 125 Worth St., New York, NY 10007, (4) EODE, DOHMH, 253 Broadway, CN 34-C, New York, NY 10007, (5) Environmental and Occupational Disease Epidemiology, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 253 Broadway, CN 34-C, New York, NY 10007, (6) Bureau of Environmental Disease Prevention, New York City Department of Health, 253 Broadway 12th Floor, Box CN58, New York, NY 10007

Background: According to NIOSH, each day, 9,000 U.S. workers sustain disabling injuries, 16 workers die from an injury at work, and 137 workers die from work-related diseases. Because this is based on state data reported to the BLS, there is a lack of occupational injury surveillance data for cities. We pilot tested the use of emergency department (ED) surveillance of occupational injuries. Methods: We added occupational injury to the existing assault injury ED surveillance system. ED charts were reviewed in selected hospitals by trained abstractors. Results: 96 occupational injuries resulting in an ED visit were abstracted from charts from 5 hospitals during one week in 2003. 76 (79.2%) were male, 19 (19.8%) were female. Age ranged from 17-59, with a median of 35 years. There were 41 (42.7%) African-Americans, 21 Hispanic (21.9%), 15 (15.6%) White, 2 (2.1%) Asian, 1 (1%) Other and 12 (12.5%) Unknown. Employer was identified in 56 (58%) of cases. The injury cause was falls in 20 (20.8%), lifting in 11 (11.5%), assaults in 9 (9.4%), repetitive motion in 7 (7.3%), needlestick in 4 (4.2%), motor vehicle injury in 1 (1%) and other type in 39 (40.6%). Only 9 (9.4%) of the charts indicated that workers’ compensation was likely source of payment. Discussion: This pilot project demonstrated the feasibility and utility of using ED data for occupational injury and illness surveillance. We plan to sample three additional weeks, one week each remaining season, to enable calculation of rates of injury and illness to compare with state-based rates.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the feasibility of using Emergency Department data for occupational injury surveillance.
• Identify the leading types of occupational injuries reported to emergency departments, and how they differ from other data sources on occupational injuries.
• Identify the limitations in current data on occupational injuries, including the lack of data by city.

Keywords: Emergency Department/Room, Occupational Injury and Death

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.