This is a problem because, “without accurate injury and illness statistics, employers and workers are unable to identify and address safety and health hazards, and policy makers are unable to assess the state of workplace safety in the country,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (DCA), chairman of the committee. “We simply must not allow a lack of information to permit hazardous working conditions to go unaddressed, putting workers’ limbs and lives at risk.”

As much as 69 percent of injuries and illnesses may never make it into the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), the nation’s annual workplace safety and health “report card” generated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

If these estimates are accurate, the nation’s workers may be suffering three times as many injuries and illnesses as official reports indicate. Despite these reports, the report says OSHA has failed to address the problem, relying on ineffective audits to argue that the numbers are accurate.

Experts have identified a number of reasons for underreporting. Twenty percent of workers— including public employees and those who are self-employed—are not even counted by BLS. Work-related illnesses are difficult to identify, especially when there are long periods between exposure and illness, or when work-related illnesses are similar to other non-work-related illnesses.

In addition, the report says that recent changes in OSHA’s recordkeeping procedures have affected the accuracy of the count of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Finally, some employers are confused about reporting criteria, and OSHA staff is often not well-trained to provide accurate advice.

But a major cause of underreporting, the report says, is OSHA’s reliance on self-reporting by employers. Employers have strong incentives to underreport injuries and illnesses that occur on the job. Businesses with fewer injuries and illnesses, they are less likely to be inspected by OSHA; they have lower workers’ compensation insurance premiums; and they have a better chance of winning government contracts and bonuses.

“The current OSHA injury and illness information is inaccurate, due in part to the wide scale underreporting by employers and OSHA’s willingness to accept these falsified numbers,” said Bob Whitmore, former chief of the OSHA recordkeeping division. “There are many reasons why OSHA would accept these numbers, but one important institutional factor has dramatically affected the agency: Steady annual declines in the number of workplace injuries and illnesses make it appear that OSHA is fulfilling its mission.”

OSHA uses workplace injury and illness statistics reported by employers, in part, to target inspections, evaluate its performance, and to determine when new health and safety standards may be needed. When OSHA uses flawed data to make these determinations, workplace safety suffers, testified Dr. Robert McLellen, the immediate past president of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

“Society’s interest in preventing work-related injuries and illnesses is foiled when our picture of the true burden of work-related injuries and illnesses is distorted,” said McLellen. “We find anecdotal examples of distorted reporting troubling, suggesting a process and a system in need of review because of the potential for causing both medical harm and flawed statistical results.”

“There is no disagreement in the medical literature that an undercount exists and that this undercount is significant,” said Dr. Kenneth Rosenman, chief of occupational and environmental medical division of Michigan State University.

The lack of accurate surveillance information leads to the inability to allocate appropriate resources, the inability to initiate and prioritize targeted inter-ventions, and the inability to evaluate the effectiveness of those interventions.

We commend the efforts of OSHA and safety professionals everywhere, who work to make sure that workers go home at the end of each day. It’s important they have the tools and information necessary to get the job done. Let’s hope OSHA finds a way to ensure its effectiveness and credibility in the future.

Thanks and good luck.