The current national surveillance for work-related injuries and illness is an employer-based system. The system is widely acknowledged to provide incomplete estimates for both occupational injuries and illness. We propose to link nine different work-related injury and illness surveillance systems for Michigan related data: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses; U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration Injury and Illness Survey; First Injury and Illness Reports to the Michigan Bureau of Workers' Disability Compensation (BWDC); Occupational Disease Reports to the Michigan Department of Consumer and Industry Services (MDCIS); Michigan hospital inpatient/outpatient Data Base, Michigan Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI); Michigan Adult Blood Lead Epidemiologic Surveillance (ABLES); U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Integrated Management Information System; U.S. Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Injury and Illness data base. We will then assess the degree of overlap. Using capture-recapture analyses we will estimate the magnitude of work-related injuries and illnesses in Michigan. Finally we will develop a more efficient method for conducting work-related injury and illness surveillance. A more comprehensive surveillance system would be useful for better documenting what percentage of public health resources should be allocated to occupational safety and health. Also, the data would be useful to prioritize, target and evaluate both public health and enforcement activity. We have assembled an interdisciplinary team consisting of an occupational health physician, epidemiologists, a biostatistician and a computer programmer. We have arranged access to all nine data systems.
