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TRAUMATIC OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES

collage of workers on the job

Data and Statistics

Identifying problems in traumatic injury research, as in much of public health, is driven by surveillance. Surveillance is “the ongoing collection, analysis and interpretation of health data in the process of describing and monitoring a health [injury] event.”* For occupational safety research, this refers to the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data on injuries, hazards, and exposures for identifying potential risk factors for further research, and for prevention planning and intervention evaluation.

* Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). [1988] Guidelines for Evaluating Surveillance Systems. MMWR 37 (S-5):1-18. May 6, 1988.