OCCUPATIONAL RESPIRATORY DISEASE SURVEILLANCE

Overview

Occupational respiratory disease surveillance is the ongoing, systematic collection, analysis, and dissemination of health and hazard data to monitor the extent and severity of occupationally-related lung disease and related workplace exposures for use in public health education and in disease prevention.

This NIOSH Topic page also includes information about occupational respiratory disease medical screening and monitoring – the systematic evaluation of exposed workers to detect potential health problems at an early stage and to facilitate action to prevent the development or progression of occupationally-related respiratory disease.

Index

National Statistics

Surveillance information from various data sources on the occurrence of occupational respiratory diseases and selected workplace exposures, including morbidity, mortality, and hazard surveillance data.

• Work-Related Lung Disease Surveillance System (eWoRLD): Summary tables, figures, and maps on various occupationally-related respiratory diseases, including data on morbidity, mortality, and associated workplace exposures.
• National Occupational Respiratory Mortality System (NORMS): An interactive query system designed to generate statistics, charts, and maps relating to mortality from occupationally-related lung diseases.

State-Based Surveillance

Information on state-based surveillance of occupational respiratory disease, including work-related asthma (WRA) and silicosis.

• Work-Related Asthma (WRA): Information on WRA surveillance programs from NIOSH funded states.
• Silicosis: Information on silicosis surveillance programs from NIOSH funded states.

Worker Medical Monitoring

Information providing technical assistance and recommendations for worker medical monitoring for occupational respiratory diseases, including the NIOSH B Reader Program and the NIOSH-Approved Spirometry Training Program.

• Radiographic Monitoring: Radiographic monitoring for the pneumoconioses, especially coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP), is a widely accepted practice.
• Spirometric Testing: Spirometric testing is frequently utilized in the United States to monitor workers at risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma.

Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program (CWHSP)

Information on the Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program, a federally mandated medical monitoring program for coal miners.

• Expanded Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program (Spirometry): Information on how to participate in the CWHSP for coal miner operators, contractors, radiographic facilities, spirometric facilities, and coal miners.
• Coal Workers Health Surveillance Program (CWHSP) Data Query System: This query system generates tables by Disease Severity Level and Disease Severity Prevalence, by demographic and geographical criteria for the total number of underground miners who participated in the CWHSP program.
• Enhanced Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program (ECWHSP): Information on the Enhanced Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program (ECWHSP), a collaborative program with MSHA to institute field surveys of coal miners.

Contact Information

NIOSH Surveillance Branch, Division of Respiratory Disease Studies
1095 Willowdale Road, Morgantown, WV 26505
WoRLD@cdc.gov

To receive email notification of updates to the Occupational Respiratory Disease Surveillance information in these web pages, email us at WoRLD@cdc.gov. In the subject line, type “ORDS updates”, and in the body of the email include all contact information.