February 27, 2006—The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have released a new report, Putting Data to Work: Occupational Health Indicators from Thirteen Pilot States for 2000.
The report defines 19 occupational health indicators (OHI), specific measures of a work-related disease or injury or factors associated with occupational health in a specified population. The indicators allow for assessing and monitoring overall health, and provide a baseline from which comparisons and trends over time can be tracked.
OHIs are intended to increase the consistency and availability of occupational disease and injury surveillance data at the state and federal levels. The set of OHIs are part of a larger national process of public health indicator development including injury, environmental, chronic disease and the “Leading Health Indicators” of the US Department of Health and Human Services Healthy People 2010 project.
