| Developing a low-cost surveillance system for occupational injury in agriculture and logging has long been a challenge. These data are needed to prioritize public health interventions in the agriculture and logging industries, and are crucial to evaluating changes in injury rates, as well as the effectiveness of safety interventions. Recently, the transition to electronic data reporting created new opportunities for the development of sustainable, low-cost surveillance systems. Pre-hospital care reports (PCR) and hospital data (emergency department, inpatient, and outpatient) are datasets of particular interest.;The Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety in Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing (NEC), was established by National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in 1990 to address hazards and health in the nation's most dangerous industries: Agriculture, Forestry, and Commercial Fishing. Maine and New Hampshire are the focus of this dissertation, as they are the first states to work with NEC in delivering data necessary for the establishment of such a surveillance system.;This dissertation explored the ability to harmonize disparate data sources and identify agriculture and logging-related injuries. In addition, much work was done to understand the ability to code these data using the Occupational Injuries and Illnesses Classification System (OIICS), which is widely used among other occupational health surveillance systems, as the granularity to which these data could be coded directly effects the usefulness of the system. Lastly, identified injuries were summarized, and several hypotheses were tested with these data. |
