An occupational injury management information system

Abstract

Management should direct the health and safety effort by setting achievable goals and by planning, organizing, and controlling to achieve them. Before effective control strategies can be applied, however, information must be obtained first, to identify and verify a problem's existence; second, to provide a base to suggest one or several solutions to it; and third, to monitor the effectiveness of the potential solution implemented. The basic premise from which the research and development project reported in this paper sprang forth is: information about the frequency and characteristics of injuries as well as counter-measure effectiveness is the foundation of an occupational health and safety program management network for controlling workplace hazards. The purpose of this project was to develop a method, a design, and a prototype for gathering, managing, and presenting data about occupational injuries. State-of-the-art systems analysis and design methodologies were applied to the long-standing problem in the field of occupational safety and health of processing workplace injuries data into information for safety and health program management as well as preliminary research about accident etiologies. The top-down planning and bottom-up implementation approach was utilized to design an occupational injury management information system. A description of a managerial control system and a comprehensive system to integrate health and safety program management was provided.