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The Division of Safety Research (DSR) serves
as the focal point for the Institute's traumatic occupational injury
research program. The Division's programs are organized around the public
health approach to occupational injury prevention. DSR programs encompass
surveillance, analytic epidemiology, protective technology and safety
engineering, and health communication through:
- Surveillance Systems
DSR maintains a number of fatal and non-fatal injury surveillance systems
which are used to prioritize research needs, target prevention efforts,
and monitor trends. NIOSH developed the National Traumatic Occupational
Fatalities (NTOF) surveillance system, which provides data on the
causes and nature of workplace deaths occurring from traumatic injury.
The system currently contains information on more than 100,000 worker
deaths in the United States that occurred from 1980 through 1998.
The Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) system consists
of epidemiologic field investigations of work-related deaths. Results
of each FACE investigation provide recommendations for preventing
similar events in the future. The national surveillance of nonfatal
occupational injuries is conducted in collaboration with the Consumer
Product Safety Commission using the National Electronic Injury Surveillance
System (NEISS). Based on this system, there were an estimated 3.9
million occupational injuries treated in emergency departments in
1999.
- Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program
In fiscal year 1998, Congress allocated funds for NIOSH to implement
a program to conduct FACE investigations of line-of-duty deaths
to fire fighters. The overall goal of this program is to better
define the magnitude and characteristics of line-of-duty deaths
and severe injuries among fire fighters, to develop recommendations
for the prevention of these injuries and deaths, and to implement
and disseminate prevention efforts.
- Childhood Agricultural Injury Prevention Initiative
Through funding received by NIOSH through Congress in FY 1997, DSR
launched a continuing initiative to prevent agricultural injury
and death among children. The activities of the initiative include:
conducting surveillance and research to fill critical data needs,
facilitating the use of data for prevention efforts, and encouraging
adoption of effective injury prevention efforts by the private
and public sectors.
- Field Research
DSR's analytic epidemiology program is aimed at determining causes
and risk factors for work-related trauma, and evaluating the efficacy
of interventions through epidemiologic field studies.
- Laboratory Studies
DSR's protective technology and safety engineering programs emphasize:
developing engineering controls, safe work practices, and protective
equipment for the prevention of traumatic injuries and fatalities.
The program conducts studies in both laboratory and field settings,
and uses advanced technologies for furthering occupational safety
research.
- Alaska Field Station
From 1980-1989, Alaskan workers died at a rate approximately five
times the national rate. After identifying the State as the highest-risk
State for job-related injuries, DSR established a research field
station in Anchorage in 1991. Since the establishment of the field
station, dramatic changes have occurred: there has been a 49% decline
in work-related deaths since 1991; commercial fishing deaths decreased
67% during the same period, and there has been a persistent and
marked decrease in helicopter logging-related fatalities.
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Intramural Programs by Divisions
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