The mission of the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) is to promote and protect the health of lowans. By establishing a surveillance system to monitor occupational illnesses and injuries in Iowa and by continuing the current surveillance system for the priority health condition of work-related fatal injuries, IDPH will be able to deliver effective prevention and education programs to Iowa's workforce. For the fundamental program, IDPH will collaborate with key stakeholders in academia, business, agriculture, and healthcare to establish the surveillance system. Initially, the system will be comprised of 15 indicators. Thirteen indicators are those required by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and consistent with past recipients of NIOSH funding to allow for comparison of Iowa to other states. The other two indicators to be included in the system are occupational exposure to anhydrous ammonia and commodity-production related agricultural injuries. Both relate to the prominence of the agricultural industry in Iowa. It is anticipated that Iowa will monitor additional indicators specific to the Iowa workforce in years two to five of the project period. Information gathered from surveillance activities will be published annually and made available on the IDPH website. IDPH is committed to improving the health of all lowans through the delivery of the core functions and essential services of public health. To promote and protect the health of lowans, IDPH needs data to make informed decisions and prioritize need. The goal of the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) in developing and implementing a fundamental program to conduct occupational safety and health surveillance in Iowa is to improve the health of Iowa's workers by preventing occupational injuries and illnesses in Iowa. The goal for the priority health condition of work-related fatal injuries is to reduce the number of traumatic occupational fatalities in Iowa and the nation by establishing a fatal occupational injury surveillance system, conducting on-site investigations of the fatal incidents, identifying risk factors for such injuries, developing prevention strategies, and disseminating the results of these efforts. The program will achieve this goal through well-balanced surveillance and research activities and an information dissemination program. The Office of the State Medical Examiner at the Iowa Department of Public Health and the University of Iowa Injury Prevention Research Center will use their institutional strengths in forensic investigations, occupational medicine, epidemiology, industrial hygiene, agricultural engineering, and public health to identify strategies to prevent fatal injuries in the workplace.
