For those infection preventionists who also work in employee health, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is forming a new electronic, voluntary, and secure surveillance system to track occupational injuries to health care workers.
The Occupational Health and Safety Network (OHSN) will integrate a wide variety of ongoing occupational health surveillance activities and make it easier to identify effective prevention strategies, NIOSH says.
This first version of OHSN deals with work-related injuries to healthcare personnel. Modules addressing other industry sectors may be added in the future.
How might OHSN benefit healthc are facilities?
Well, OHSN lets you:
• Benchmark your facility’s rates and trends against data from similar facilities, letting you see how your facility is doing.
• Compare patterns of injuries (e.g., risk factors, types of healthcare personnel involved, circumstances leading to injuries)
• Identify effective intervention approaches shared by NIOSH and other OHSN participating facilities – and add your own facility’s best practices
• Assess the impact of your prevention efforts on traumatic injuries over time
• Track your own data to meet the requirements of OSHA and The Joint Commission
→NIOSH will work with you on integrating the collection of data required for OHSN into your current process to minimize your effort.
[Exhibit 2 about here]
Who can get involved in OHSN?
• Occupational health professionals in the healthcare industry – the intended users of OHSN
• Other organizations and groups interested in the health and safety of healthcare personnel – Please pass along this information and the OHSN website to your contacts!
• Beginning the end of 2012/early 2013, all types of ambulatory and inpatient healthcare facilities in the U.S. can enroll, including acute care hospitals, long-term acute care hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals, outpatient dialysis centers, ambulatory surgery centers, outpatient clinics, and long-term care facilities.
How can you get involved?
Learn more about OHSN at 
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Open enrollment for OHSN begins soon (end of 2012/beginning of 2013))
Right now, NIOSH is seeking facilities to test the data transmission process.
To be considered as a testing facility, or to ask questions, contact:
Ahmed Gomaa, MD, ScD, MSPH: AGomaa@cdc.gov
Sara Luckhaupt, MD, MPH: SLuckhaupt@cdc.gov
OHSN Team: NIOSHOHSN@cdc.gov
