Abstract

The goal of occupational surveillance is to document and characterise occupational hazards or adverse health effects; to monitor trends over time; to identify emerging problems; to generate hypotheses for research; and to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions. The U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics collects and maintains data on occupational injuries, illnesses and fatalities and makes it available to the public. The gaps in the US national system are supplemented by a variety of other resources. This presentation will describe the US national system, the challenges to obtaining complete and accurate information, other sources of data and linkage methods that can fill the gaps, and recommendations for a more comprehensive system. Occupational surveillance challenges are universal and the potential ways to overcome them can be adapted according to local needs.