M6.1 INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE AND INJURY SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS

N. Kendall.Health Consultant Services, London, UK

This presentation will describe the methods and early results from a significant evidence review of surveillance systems for occupational disease and injury that has been commissioned by the National Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Committee of New Zealand (NOHSAC). Tracking systems form the cornerstone of injury and illness surveillance, yet it is clear that a diverse variety of methods and measures have been adopted in different countries, and by their health and safety systems. The relative merits of these are not entirely clear. Key problems within occupational health include estimation of incidence and prevalence of disease and injury; trends within these parameters; and distribution of disease and injury across variables such as occupational class, geographical location, or population subtype, for example. Important information about causation and prevention rests on reliable and valid data. The goal of this project is to conduct a systematic review of the evidence on surveillance systems by searching the available literature and interviewing relevant experts from a number of countries. The methodology for ranking surveillance systems according to effectiveness and utility will be described, along with a review of the methodological issues that …