Occupational Health and Injury Surveillance in Louisiana

Louisiana State Office Of Public Health, Metairie LA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals has established a population-based occupational health surveillance program, the Louisiana Occupational Health and Injury Surveillance (LOHIS). This proposal seeks to expand and continue the basic occupational health surveillance system and to advance the preventive efforts to reduce occupational injuries, diseases and hazards in Louisiana. The overall goal of this project is to build the occupational health surveillance program into an effective system that will identify high risk workers in Louisiana and provide the data to reduce occupational injuries, diseases, and mortalities through targeted preventive measures. The approach to LOHIS is built upon a strong foundation of long term partnerships with other state agencies and stakeholders who regularly collaborate to address occupational health issues. These partners will continue to team with LOHIS to identify occupational issues, provide data from multiple sources, interpret findings, and utilize the results to enhance prevention measures across the state. The ongoing collection and compiling of data on key indicators of occupational diseases, injuries and hazards into a population-based surveillance system will provide needed data for prevention of injuries and disease in workers in Louisiana. Specific aims of the proposal include: Interact regularly with state partners and stakeholders to obtain input, identify occupational issues and to maintain pipelines to disseminate the findings of the surveillance system;collect, analyze, and interpret surveillance data for the occupational health indicators;develop new data sources and additional occupational health indicators that are relevant to Louisiana;assess the strengths and limitations of each data source and type with respect to data gaps and incomplete data, reliable denominators, consistency, and timeliness of data from each source;produce a state-wide annual report that provides trends, high risk occupations and industries, and identifies emerging issues in Louisiana;develop prevention strategies and interventions using surveillance findings; develop capacity to respond to emerging and emergent occupational health issues;and participate in NIOSH meetings, conference calls and other activities.