Work-Related Injuries in Athens County, 1982-86.

摘要

The sensitivity of two distinct approaches to surveillance for injury in the workplace were compared in one community and an estimate was made of the total incidence of significant work related injury in this community. Examinations were made of the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) and Bureau of Worker's Compensation (BWC) datasets for Athens County, Ohio. The results indicated that neither dataset alone gives a complete nor an accurate picture of occupational injuries in Athens County. The two sets may provide a more complete representation of occupational injuries when examined together. Using the NEISS and BWC datasets in combination resulted in a total number of injuries higher than that predicted by national norms. Only 71.2% of the eligible work related injuries were recorded in the NEISS file at the study hospital. There were fewer matches between the NEISS and BWC data than were initially anticipated. The Worker's Compensation system detected an estimated 25.5% of the total work related injuries in the county, while the NEISS system detected an estimated 81.2%. There were differences in the distribution of age, accident type, body part, and diagnosis between the BWC and NEISS datasets. No major difference was noted in sex distribution.