On a typical day, an estimated 16 workers are killed and 36, 000 are injured. The associated economic costs are high, costing the nation more than AIDS and as much as cancer and heart disease. In accordance with the objectives set forth by NIOSH in the National Occupational Research Agenda, the specific aims of the Minnesota trauma surveillance partnership are to: 1) develop new and maintain existing multi-source sentinel and population-based surveillance of hospitalized and non-hospitalized work-related traumatic injuries within the MDH; 2) evaluate the adaptability of core surveillance programs through training and subsequent extension of these programs and intervention methodology to the NDDH: 3) determine optimal state-based and regional sampling strategies for the surveillance of different types of traumatic injuries; 4) develop targeted prevention programs within industries and workplaces identified as placing workers at increased risk of amputations, burns, or hospitalized traumatic injury; and 5) conduct data analysis to determine the magnitude, distribution, etiology, outcomes, and trends of work-related traumatic injuries. This cooperative agreement will maintain and develop a set of core surveillance activities for serious work-related injuries. An existing Advisory Group will continue to work with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) to develop and revise case definitions for burns. The MDH has already developed definitions for hospitalized non-burn trauma and amputations. The initial set of injuries will include amputations, burns, traumatic brain and spinal injury, and hospitalized trauma. Together these comprise some of the most devastating conditions affecting workers. Data will be complied from multiple sources including regional trauma centers, the MDH Trauma Registry, and the Department of Labor and Industry. The North Dakota Department of Health (NDDH) will incrementally develop its surveillance program. Data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics with regard to demographics, source of injury, nature and severity of injury, occupation, and event type. Incidence will be computed for different types of injury and by industry. Poisson regression will be used to determine possible risk factors for work-related disability. Multi-source capture-recapture will be used to determine the completeness of different data sources. Organization theory and process evaluation will be used to assess surveillance implementation by the NDDH.
