| Abstract |
While Louisiana is a relatively small state, a significant number of its workforce is employed in high risk industries – oil & gas exploration, chemical manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, and construction – each with unique, geographic and hazard variability. Every year, thousands of these workers are injured on the job or become ill as a result of exposure to health and safety hazards at work. These work-related health conditions have high human and economic costs not only for workers and employers, but also for society at large. Workers’ compensation claims alone in Louisiana cost approximately $870 million in 2012, and there is an annual average of 2,500 work-related hospitalizations and 121 work-related fatalities. Louisiana’s occupational fatality rate exceeded the national rate by almost 35%, is the 7th highest rate in the country, and the highest among other southern states. An accurate count of injuries and illnesses is necessary to identify and address unsafe work conditions, allocate resources, initiate and prioritize interventions, and evaluate work processes and changes. The Occupational Health and Injury Surveillance Program in Louisiana is the primary state program for occupational health surveillance. During the past 5 years, the program has conducted population-based surveillance of occupational illnesses, injuries, and hazards using data from multiple in-state and federal data sources. New data sources were also developed: Emergency Department, Workers’ Compensation, and Louisiana’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). There are approximately 16,000 work-related ED visits per year, and about 75% of were due to an injury. In partnership with the Louisiana Workforce Commission, we initiated the first inter-agency effort to analyze workers’ compensation claims data to identify trends and high risk industries. We successfully added employment data to Louisiana’s BRFSS survey allowing for characterization of Louisiana’s working population by health status, risk factors, and other variables. Using multiple data sources, indicators of occupational health were annually calculated in addition to in-depth analysis of conditions relevant to Louisiana’s diversified workforce: falls in the construction industry, asbestosis, asthma, heavy metal exposure and heat-related illness. Responding to emergent events is a core public health function and the program participated in numerous emergency response activities impacting Louisiana workers ranging from indoor air quality investigations to establishing a sentinel surveillance system with hospitals and emergency departments during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster to track acute exposures impacting response workers. Through collaborative partnerships with a diverse network of stakeholders, findings were disseminated in multiple formats and venues in order to advance occupational health surveillance research and practice at the state and national level. We have contributed to increased occupational health surveillance capacity at the regional level through the Southern States Occupational Network (SouthON) which has successfully held annual conferences and conducted several regional projects including heat-related illness and fatal occupational injuries. The work of the Occupational Health and Injury Surveillance Program during the past 5 years has resulted in numerous positive impacts: increased occupational safety and health outreach and education, expanded collaborations and partnerships, enhanced use of surveillance data, and increased awareness of priority occupational health issues. |
