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Letitia K Davis, ScD, Occupational Health Surveillance Program, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116, 617 988-3335, Letitia.Davis@state.ma.us and Kenneth D. Rosenman, MD, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Michigan State University, 117 West Fee Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824.
A public health surveillance indicator is a specific measure of health status (i.e., the occurrence of a health event or of factors associated with a health event) among a specified population. Surveillance indicators allow a state to compare its health status with that of other states and within state over time. Indicators have been developed for a number of public health domains including injury prevention, chronic disease and environmental health. The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, in conjunction with the National Instate for Occupational Safety and Health, has recently developed a set of 20 occupational health indicators for use by the states. These indicators are intended to provide information about a state’s health status with respect to workplace factors that can influence health. The proposed occupational health indicators include measures of occupational health effects, e.g. select work-related disease or injuries, and measures of determinants of work-related illnesses and injuries, such as measures of hazards, worker populations at risk, and interventions in the state. Over the last year, 12 states have piloted the recommended occupational health indicators and developed guidance for other states on how to generate the indicators. In this session, we will provide an overview of the pilot indicator project and present indicator data from several pilot states. The strengths and limitations of the indicators as a surveillance tool will be discussed.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Indicators, Occupational Surveillance
Related Web page: www.cste.org
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.