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NIOSH Programs > Surveillance > NIOSH Funded Research Grants SurveillanceActivites: NIOSH-Funded Research GrantsNIOSH sponsors research and training through its extramural programs, which complement the institute's intramural programs. More information is available from the NIOSH Office of Extramural Programs. Our research portfolio includes the following NIOSH-funded research grants: State-Based Surveillance Projects
California Occupational Safety and Health SurveillanceThe Occupational Health Branch, California Department of Health Services, proposes an expanded program to reduce worker injury and illness by maintaining and expanding the capacity for occupational health surveillance and workplace interventions in California. The expanded program includes the fundamental program and in-depth surveillance of four priority health conditions (asthma, carpal tunnel syndrome, silicosis, and pesticide illness). The fundamental program provides the foundation for surveillance and intervention activities by generating new information from available data sources, developing collaborations to enhance program operation and impact, and evaluating progress to ensure overall coordination and effectiveness. The fundamental program will collect and analyze annual surveillance data for 19 occupational health indicators and an employment demographics profile and conduct an in-depth analysis of selected indicators; continue and expand assessment of the electronic Workers' Compensation Information System as a useful data source for occupational health surveillance; collaborate with state partners through creation of an OHB advisory committee, and with other state programs and NIOSH through a newly established consortium and committee; disseminate surveillance data, findings of case investigations, and intervention results through an annual publication for stakeholders and enhanced OHB website; prepare an annual performance review of the accomplishments and impact of the expanded program with recommendations for improving effectiveness; priority health condition programs are designed to collect and analyze statewide surveillance data that guide workplace investigations and interventions to develop recommendations for prevention. Each program involves conducting multisource surveillance relying on existing and new statewide reporting systems; performing workplace interventions to prevent illness among selected high-risk occupations and industries; collaborating with a diverse range of partners to develop and implement prevention strategies; disseminating surveillance and intervention findings through a variety of specific methods; and evaluating the surveillance system for case ascertainment, case follow-up, intervention, and dissemination. Project contact: Robert Harrison Connecticut Occupational Health SurveillanceThe overall goal of Connecticut's proposed program for occupational health surveillance is to maintain our current surveillance and intervention capacity in core program areas. The primary objective of the proposed fundamental project is to maintain established capacity for occupational disease surveillance in Connecticut through continuing longitudinal analysis of occupational disease underreporting and the occupational health indicators, expanding selected disease-specific surveillance activities broadening the representation and scope of duties for the Connecticut Occupational Health Advisory Group, and maintaining regional collaboration with occupational health partners from the other northeastern states. Project contact: Tom St Louis Kentucky Occupational Safety and Health SurveillanceKentucky's occupational fatality rate is 6.9 deaths/100,000 workers (Kentucky Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation [FACE] program data, 2003), 72.5 percent above the national rate of 4/100,000 workers. Kentucky's nonfatal worker injury and illness rate is also greater than the national rate (7.1 injuries and illnesses/100 full-time workers compared to 5.3/100 nationally (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2003). The establishment of a fundamental occupational safety and health (OSH) surveillance program in a southeastern state, Kentucky, will target and unite resources from existing public health surveillance systems and identify and utilize new and existing sources of OSH data. The objectives are to identify worker populations, work environments, and other factors which contribute to occupational injury, and develop state OSH data dissemination strategies to reduce Kentucky occupational injuries. The methodology consists of establishing and conducting comprehensive population-based surveillance of the 13 occupational injury and illness indicators recommended by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and fatal and nonfatal occupational motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) as another indicator using existing independent data systems: hospital discharge, FACE, workers claims (WC), poison control center (PCC), vital statistics, Kentucky adult blood lead epidemiology surveillance, Collision Report Analysis for Safer Highways, emergency department (ED), and trauma registry data in addition to online resource data. Extensive analysis of 1) linked hospital discharge and WC datasets to examine occupational falls, and 2) linked CRASH, hospital discharge, ED, and trauma datasets to examine nonfatal occupational motor vehicle collisions will be performed. Narrative data analysis of PCC data will be completed on occupational poisoning incidents. The feasibility of ED data and trauma systems data as independent and linked occupational heath data sources will be explored. We will initiate and expand partnerships with state and local stakeholders to establish a Kentucky state-specific consortium called "Kentucky-Working to SAFE Lives". We will analyze and disseminate surveillance data through the state consortium and other community stakeholders and a process and outcome evaluation of the major activities conducted will be performed. Project contact – Terry Bunn Occupational Health and Injury Surveillance in LouisianaProject objectives are to systematically evaluate existing data sources for use in occupational health surveillance, identify new data sources, coordinate Louisiana Office of Public Health (LOPH) programs currently using data relevant to occupational health surveillance, and describe the overall burden of occupational diseases and injuries occurring in Louisiana. Planning discussions for the project have identified LOPH program staff with expertise in 5 of the 7 data sources: hospital discharge, vital records (mortality), poison control data, laboratory test reports, and tumor registry. Working collaboratively with identified LOPH programs, data will be evaluated, analyzed, and interpreted. Data evaluation will consider completeness and validity, and analysis will include age-standardized and annual incidence rates, trends over time, spatial analysis using GIS, and hypothesis generating analysis. Chemical exposure and heavy metal toxicity will be included in addition to the required 13 occupational health conditions. An Occupational Health Surveillance Advisory Group will provide technical expertise on the project design, implementation, and dissemination of surveillance findings. A mailing list of individuals and agencies with an interest in occupational health will be developed and maintained. Results will be disseminated through various formats: OPH website; publication of articles in the Louisiana Morbidity Report, local newspapers, and the Journal of State Medical Society; and presentations at state conferences and at Tulane's and Louisiana State University's Schools of Public Health. Ultimately, the surveillance data will be used by LOPH to set research priorities for occupational health surveillance, to target interventions, and to enhance public health capacity in the field of occupational health. Project contact - Dianne Dugas Expanded Occupational Health Surveillance in MassachusettsWork-related injuries and illnesses are a significant public health problem in Massachusetts, imposing substantial human and economic costs. Massachusetts recognizes the prevention of work-related injuries and illnesses as a public health priority and the need for state-based surveillance to promote effective intervention and prevention activities at the state and local levels. State surveillance findings can also fill gaps in occupational health surveillance at the national level. Since1986, the MA Department of Public Health has worked to build an Occupational Health Surveillance Program (OHSP). OHSP has developed targeted surveillance and intervention systems for priority occupational health conditions and populations, carried out broad-based prevention activities based on surveillance findings, conducted surveillance research, and worked to integrate occupational health into mainstream public health practice. OHSP proposes to build on past experience and to implement an expanded occupational health surveillance program in Massachusetts. The proposed expanded program includes fundamental surveillance activities and four additional focused surveillance and intervention projects addressing two priority health conditions and two priority populations that have been identified with input from key stakeholders in the state. The overarching goal is to reduce the incidence of work-related injuries and illnesses among Massachusetts workers. Specific aims of the proposed expanded program are to: (1) Continue fundamental occupational health surveillance activities, including generation of state occupational health indicators; (2) Continue and enhance the Massachusetts surveillance system for work-related asthma; (3) Continue and enhance the Massachusetts surveillance system for work-related injuries to youths less than 18 years of age; (4) Continue and enhance the new Massachusetts surveillance system for sharps injuries to hospital workers; and (5) Implement occupational health surveillance in five community-based health centers in order to characterize occupational injuries and illnesses among minority and immigrant workers. OHSP activities will continue to be guided by an advisory board of local occupational health experts and advocates. Project contact - Letitia Davis, Massachusetts Department of Public Health Michigan Enhanced Program in Occupational Injury and Illness SurveillanceMichigan State University in conjunction with the Michigan Department of Community Health and the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth has been conducting state-based occupational safety and health surveillance since 1988. This proposal will continue and expand this activity. This proposal will fund activity to generate the occupational indicators and surveillance programs for four specific conditions: (1) work-related asthma; (2) work-related noise induced hearing loss (NIHL); (3) silicosis; and (4) acute pesticide illness. The state has had SENSOR funded projects in work-related asthma since 1988 to date, silicosis from 1988-1992 and 2002 to date and work-related NIHL from 1992 to date. With this funding, occupational disease reporting has increased from less than 100 reports a year prior to 1988 to 15,000 - 20,000 reports a year. The state has continued silicosis surveillance without SENSOR funds from 1993 to 2001 and work-related NIHL from 2000 to 2002. The State initiated acute pesticide illness surveillance in 2001. Since initiation of surveillance 2,074 cases of work-related asthma, 924 cases of silicosis, 23,771 cases of work-related NIHL and 183 cases of acute pesticide poisoning have been confirmed. Seven hundred and eighty-five follow back industrial hygiene inspections have been conducted, and 8,443 fellow workers interviewed during these inspections. The confirmation process, industrial hygiene inspections and fellow worker interviews will be continued. There has been 100% reporting from the 156 acute care hospitals in the state. Two quarterly newsletters (total 85 different newsletters) and 4 annual reports per year (total 59 different reports) have been written and mailed out to approximately 4,000 targeted physicians and health care professionals. Active outreach to encourage reporting will be continued. Additional activity that will continue will include presentations and display booths at medical meetings, publishing papers in the medical literature and working with other state organizations such as the medical licensing board to publicize Michigan's occupational disease reporting law. Evaluation of the effectiveness of our effort to improve working conditions will also continue. In addition, to the above basic surveillance we will be expanding our outreach, follow back and evaluation activity. New activity planned includes: expanding our use of workers' compensation data, conducting Project contact – Ken Rosenman New Jersey Fundamental and Expanded Occupational Health SurveillanceThis project is composed of three separate modules: Fundamental Surveillance, Expanded Surveillance - Work-Related Asthma, and Expanded Surveillance - Silicosis. The Fundamental project will conduct population-based surveillance using the 13 occupational health indicators established by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists in order to estimate their magnitude and evaluate trends. Five of the 13 occupational health indicators will be evaluated by race and ethnicity. Hospital and emergency department data systems will be used to collect summary data on Occupational injury, illness, and poisonings. The Expanded project will include two surveillance systems for the priority health conditions, work-related asthma and silicosis. These surveillance systems will utilize existing and newly available electronic data sources and health care provider reporting to identify cases of work-related asthma and silicosis. The projects will implement various intervention components directed by the surveillance findings. Intervention components include individual worksite evaluation, industry-wide studies, educational material development and dissemination, and public reports. The work-related asthma and silicosis projects will include various collaborations with federal and state partners, the medical community, and employer/employee groups. An evaluation component will be built into each project to ensure that the surveillance systems and related projects operate efficiently, are serving a useful public health function, and meeting their objectives. Project contact – David Valiante New Mexico Occupational Health SurveillanceNew Mexico Occupational Health Surveillance Program: The goal of this funding is to continue and expand the occupational illness, toxic exposure, hazard, and injury surveillance program in the State of New Mexico. The expanded fundamental program goals are to enhance existing surveillance infrastructure by refining data use agreements and incorporating other datasets with occupational health surveillance application, conduct analysis of existing datasets including, but not limited to, analysis using the "CSTE/NIOSH Occupational Health Indicators How to Guide", and to report data analysis results and program impacts to partners at NIOSH, CSTE, and the NM Department of Health, as well as to health care providers, workers, and labor and industry. Interventions for occupational illness and injury prevention will be conducted, and the NMOHR will work with the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau, the state occupational health regulatory agency, for the analysis of data and intervention within the NMOHSB Local Emphasis Programs of silica, blood lead, and workplace violence. All projects will be evaluated for efficacy in discovering occupational illness and injury beyond existing channels, sustainability of the surveillance methods employed, and the impact of each project. Evaluations will be conducted by employing a logic model with expected outcomes. Project contact – Karen B. Mulloy Occupational Safety and Health Surveillance in New YorkThis cooperative agreement will enable the New York State (NYS) Department of Health (DOH) to establish an integrated program that will monitor the occupational health status of New Yorkers. Since NYS is large and has a diverse population, there is a wide spectrum of occupational fatalities, injuries and diseases that occur among the population. An integrated surveillance system will allow NYSDOH to gain insight into the populations being affected by these health issues which should then assist us in preventing future occupational diseases and injuries. We will continue to review existing data sources on occupational diseases and injuries to identify high-risk industries and occupations, as well as populations at an increased risk. Maintaining a core staff dedicated to occupational health surveillance and intervention will also enable NYSDOH to conduct rapid response to new or emerging occupational health issues, including terrorism events. NYSDOH currently oversees three occupational health registries mandated by law - the Heavy Metals Registry, the Occupational Lung Disease Registry and the Pesticide Poisoning Registry. Information from each of these registries is shared with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as part of national surveillance activities. NYSDOH has actively worked to enhance each registry's case ascertainment. This has involved an integrated approach addressing barriers among health care providers towards occupational disease reporting. Therefore, NYSDOH has conducted extensive outreach to increase awareness of the diseases and reporting regulations, knowledge of how to diagnose occupational diseases, and understanding of the purpose and functioning of public health surveillance systems. In addition, we have offered consultation and patient referral support through the NYS Occupational Health Clinic Network. We plan to translate these advances in case ascertainment into the development and implementation of measurable hazard prevention activities. Furthermore, by evaluating our activities and sharing this information with key stakeholders, we will be in a position to assist in improving occupational surveillance nationally. Project contact – Kitty Gelberg Oklahoma Occupational Safety and Health SurveillanceOccupational injuries are a significant public health problem in the U.S. and in Oklahoma. Currently, occupational surveillance efforts in Oklahoma and across the U.S. are fragmented and inconsistent. The Oklahoma Occupational Safety and Health Surveillance program will establish a fundamental surveillance system to collect statewide data on occupational hazards, diseases, injuries, and deaths. The long term objectives of the Oklahoma Occupational Safety and Health Surveillance program are to: (1) collect and analyze standardized indicators on occupational health conditions in order to determine the magnitude and trends of occupational hazards, diseases, injuries, and deaths in Oklahoma; and (2) develop, implement, and evaluate occupational injury and illness prevention programs in Oklahoma. The specific aims of this proposal are to: (1) collect statewide occupational health indicator data; (2) establish a scientific advisory committee to provide input on collecting and disseminating data on occupational health conditions and establishing prevention programs; (3) analyze occupational health indicator data and provide data to NIOSH and other partners/stakeholders; (4) participate in all meetings of the Consortium of Occupational State-based Surveillance and the Coordination Committee; and (5) prepare a performance review of the surveillance program. Data on all 13 health conditions specified in the program announcement will be collected from existing databases according to the guidelines developed by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and NIOSH to facilitate comparisons between states. Based on input from the scientific advisory committee and NIOSH, in future years the surveillance system will be expanded, special studies conducted, prevention programs initiated, and publications prepared. Establishing the Oklahoma Occupational Safety and Health Surveillance program will be the first step towards the reduction of these adverse occupational health conditions in Oklahoma. Project contact – Pam Archer Oregon Worker Illness and Injury Prevention ProgramThe Oregon Department of Human Services' Environmental & Occupational Epidemiology section (EOE) proposes to build the Oregon Worker Illness & Injury Prevention Program (OWIIPP), a comprehensive expanded state-based occupational health surveillance system. OWIIPP will create and actively engage an Advisory Committee to obtain input and direction in prioritizing and evaluating OWIIPP activities from a broad range of partners with a vested interest in improving occupational health. EOE will establish a Fundamental surveillance system. The Fundamental surveillance system is based upon the collection and analysis of data for the 19 Occupational Health Indicators. OWIIPP will supplement and evaluate the standard Indicators with data from existing EOE surveillance data, and will calculate industry-specific rates and economic costs for targeted conditions. For the priority health conditions, OWIIPP will integrate data from an innovative network of public and private sector data partners. These data will be analyzed to determine rates, patterns and trends by occupation, industry and among special populations at risk for these conditions, including youth, migrant/seasonal and temporary workers. The economic burden of each priority health condition will be calculated, along with other relevant factors such as job tenure and underlying causes, to better characterize these conditions and identify opportunities for prevention. The Advisory Committee will serve as a primary means of disseminating surveillance findings and prevention recommendations. By disseminating data that better characterize the magnitude, severity, causes and costs of worker injuries and illnesses, EOE will to able to increasingly engage partners in prioritizing, developing and implementing intervention strategies. OWIIPP will conduct extensive evaluation to improve the model and its components. Data, methods, process and other findings will be widely shared through the Consortium of Occupational State-based Surveillance and other mechanisms, to learn from and provide a model for other states conducting occupational health surveillance. Project contact – Michael Heumann Washington Occupational Surveillance ProgramThis proposal for Occupational Safety and Health Surveillance will lead to enhanced surveillance activity using the NIOSH-CSTE vision and model for a nationwide system of state-based occupational injury and illness surveillance. The following will be conducted under the Fundamental Program: (1) establish a surveillance advisory committee, (2) conduct surveillance of all 19 Occupational Indicators, (3) publish an annual Indicator Report, (4) publish a supplement to the Indicator Report on acute traumatic injuries, (5) participate in the surveillance consortium (COSS) - providing leadership toward the improved understanding of the use of workers' compensation data, and (6) continue surveillance for work-related musculoskeletal disorders, asthma and hospitalized burns through established surveillance and prevention projects. The activities outlined in this proposal will lead to enhanced surveillance activity, the translation of information into recommendations and prevention strategies, and the fostering of necessary partnerships with those that can intervene, with the ultimate goal of preventing occupational injury and illness. Project contact – Dave Bonauto |
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NIOSH Program:Surveillance |
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