141st APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Home Events & Meetings Annual Meeting Schedule & Program

Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

280516
Workplace injury underreporting and employer retaliation: Reviewing current problems, exploring new studies, and assessing new interventions


Tuesday, November 5, 2013 : 4:30 p.m. - 4:50 p.m.

Nancy Lessin, MS, United Steelworkers-TMC, Boston, MA
This presentation will review current practices that discourage workers from reporting job injuries and illnesses, including different types of employer retaliation against workers who report injuries; explore recent academic, government and other studies regarding practices that discourage injury reporting; assess recent interventions by government agencies, labor organizations and others aimed at curtailing these practices; and analyze additional developments in characterizing and addressing employer retaliation for injury reporting and the overall problem of workplace injury/illness underreporting.

Learning Areas:

Occupational health and safety

Learning Objectives:
Identify continuing and new experiences with employer practices that discourage workers from reporting work-related injuries and illnesses Discuss new research on workplace injury and illness underreporting including employers’ retaliatory practices Explore the effectiveness of interventions aimed at curtailing employer practices that discourage workers from reporting job injuries and illnesses including employer retaliatory practices Discuss additional strategies for addressing employer practices that suppress injury reporting, strategies that would improve the accuracy of occupational injury and illness data.

Keyword(s): Occupational Surveillance, Occupational Injury and Death

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been employed in occupational safety and health for over 30 years, and have been involved in research, presentations and advocacy related to understanding and addressing the underreporting of workplace injuries and illnesses, including interventions to end employer retaliation against workers who report injuries. I served for five years on the National Advisory Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, advising OSHA and NIOSH on occupationanl health and safety policies, programs and interventions.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4412.0: Underreporting of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses