Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists
Counting Work-related Injuries and Illnesses: Taking Steps to Close the Gaps II
April 17-18, 2013
Washington, D.C.

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Background
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SOII history and outputs
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Research goals and results
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Recommendations and further research
2

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1970s: Began Survey of Occupational
Injuries and Illnesses (SOII); periodic user concerns led to ROSH and expanded scope
Mid 2000s: Micro-record comparisons of
SOII and workers’ comp (WC) report undercount:
 Rosenman et al. (2006)
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 Boden and Ozonoff (2008)
2008 and 2010: BLS reports on research
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Hearings
Additions to appropriations
 BLS ($1 million for SOII undercount research)
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 Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA)
 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
Request for GAO study of the accuracy of recordkeeping on employers’ OSHA logs
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Mandatory annual establishment survey
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Counts OSHA-recordable nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses
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Based on OSHA records employers keep during the year
 Includes employers not otherwise required to keep records
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Collected soon after end of the year
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Definitions come from OSHA
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Consistent definitions and procedures across states
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Worker injuries and illnesses are infrequent events
 Rate 3.5 cases per 100 full-time equivalent workers
 Many employers report zero cases
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Annual establishment totals and rates by industry
 “Summary” estimates
Case circumstances and worker characteristics for cases requiring days away from work
 “Case and demographic” estimates
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Microdata undercount studies have been based on the latter
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Limited data on workplace illnesses
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Restricted survey scope
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Cases reported elsewhere but not in
SOII
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Cases reported neither in SOII nor in other systems
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SOII undercount: Failure to capture cases that are within the scope of the survey
Total public burden undercount: Failure to report any occupational injury or illness
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Focus of research – SOII undercount
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In 2008, BLS initiated three types of research projects: matching, employer interviews and multisource

Conclusion of initial undercount research
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2012 SOII Undercount Research
Meeting
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Results and recommendations
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Nestoriak and Pierce
 Compared SOII and WC data in KY and
WI
 Explored three matching strategies
–
Macro
–
Micro
–
Hybrid
 Implications for improving SOII
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Match and analyze microdata (KY, WA,
CA)
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Robust evidence of an undercount but measuring the magnitude is difficult
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40%-70% SOII capture rate

Issues matching administrative and survey data
 Issues with WC data
 Issues with the SOII
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Explore possible reasons for differences in reporting cases on OSHA logs, SOII, and State WC claims (KY, WA)
Loosely structured questionnaire, in person visits
Interviews provide qualitative context but no quantitative information
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Using multiple data sources to enumerate certain case types (CA, MA,
WA)
Data from emergency department visits, hospital discharges, WC, SOII, others
Value in multisource for State-based surveillance and topical research
National multisource surveillance is not feasible (cost and consistent data availability)
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SOII appears to capture everything on the OSHA log
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Types of cases more likely to be missed by SOII
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Much of undercount still unexplained
15

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Expand SOII data collection
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Improve coding consistency of SOII
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Work with OSHA to enhance recordkeeping
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SOII supplements (CPS supplement)
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Future research ideas (undercount trends, variations by state, employer attributes and practices)
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Interview a large number of employers in MN, NY, OR, WA
 Goal: Quantitative measures of employer characteristics, recordkeeping practices
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Match WC-SOII for 12 years in WA
 Goal: Analyze undercount trends over time
Pilot test auto-coding of SOII data
 Goal: Improve classification consistency
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Publish hospitalization data from OSHA logs
 Goal: Improve collection/reporting of these data
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Collect and publish case data for DJTR
 Goal: Pilot test collection, estimation, and dissemination
 Goal: Evaluate effect on current DAFW case data
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Expand auto-coding
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Follow-back studies to capture injury and illness updates and incidents occurring late in the year
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Expand collection of DJTR case detail
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Explore ways to improve employer recordkeeping
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Occupational Safety and Health Statistics www.bls.gov/iif
202-691-5098 rogers.elizabeth@bls.gov