State-Based Occupational Health and Safety Surveillance in Georgia

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Georgia Department of Community Health proposes to Initiate surveillance for occupational illnesses, injuries, and related factors, based on the indicators for occupational health surveillance that have been recommended by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE). We will establish an Advisory Committee including representatives of key partner and stakeholder organizations and agencies. We will participate fully in the Consortium of Occupational State-based Surveillance. With the funds provided through this cooperative agreement, DCH will hire an Epidemiologist-2 whose primary responsibility will be to collect, summarize, and report data on the 19 Occupational Health Indicators. The operation of the system is straightforward and will resemble other surveillance activities our office has performed successfully for years. A capable epidemiologist will systematically access the recommended data bases, collect the relevant data, perform basic descriptive epidemiology, and summarize the information in regular, timely reports that including informative tables, graphs, and narrative text. The information will be shared with the Advisory Committee and other stakeholders and disseminated via routine website posting. The primary aim of our application is to establish a fundamental surveillance system for occupational health and safety. By providing timely, ongoing data on all 19 indicators, we will establish the basis for informing partners, stakeholders, policy makers, and the public about leading causes of morbidity and mortality from occupational injuries and illnesses in Georgia. This information base, presently absent in the state, will increase awareness and can be used to inform prevention programs and guide their priorities. Although the information from a surveillance system per se does not advance worker safety and health, an effective program to advance worker safety and health must be based on the information from good surveillance.