Just in the wrong place...?: geographic tools for occupational injury/illness surveillance.
BACKGROUND
Geographic analysis is now integral to public health surveillance, but has been underused for occupational injury/illness.


METHODS
Mapping and spatial statistics are used to examine national county-level mean establishment Lost Workday Injury/Illness (LWDII) rates in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Data Initiative (ODI), 1997-2001. The following questions are explored: Does occupational injury/illness vary geographically at the county level?; Does variation remain after accounting for industry hazard?; Where are rates higher or lower than expected?


RESULTS
The methods provide evidence of geographic variation in nonfatal occupational injury/illness rates, including after adjusting for industry hazard.


CONCLUSIONS
Geographic analyses can improve intervention targeting, suggest risk factors for investigation, and make the case for targeting resources to prevention in hard-hit areas, as well as improving ongoing surveillance.
Neff
Roni A
RA
Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA. rneff@jhsph.edu
Curriero
Frank C
FC
Burke
Thomas A
TA
D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D009314:National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, U.S.; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D014481:United States