Redesigning a Sentinel Surveillance System for Collecting and Disseminating Near Real-Time Agricultural Injury...

Area of Science:

• Public Health Surveillance
• Occupational Safety and Health
• Agricultural Science

Background:

• The US agricultural, forestry, and fishing (AFF) industry faces a lack of comprehensive injury surveillance.
• AgInjuryNews was established in 2015 to address this gap by collecting fatal and nonfatal injury data.
• The system covers occupational and nonoccupational injuries within the AFF sector.

Purpose of the Study:

• To redesign the AgInjuryNews system through stakeholder engagement.
• To create an interactive, up-to-date, and publicly accessible dataset of US AFF injury and fatality reports.
• To enhance data granularity and system usability for stakeholders.

Main Methods:

• Utilized heuristic evaluations, usability testing, and user surveys to inform development priorities.
• Employed an agile methodology with 2-week sprints for development.
• Developed an intuitive frontend and a flexible backend using ASP.NET and SQL, including a detailed case report input form.

Main Results:

• The redesigned AgInjuryNews system garnered 17,714 page views from 43 countries in 2018.
• 623 injury reports were coded and loaded, contributing over 31,000 data points.
• New features include customizable email alerts, an interactive map, and expanded search/filter options, endorsed by key organizations and cited in national media.

Conclusions:

• The enhanced AgInjuryNews system's features and improved data granularity have stimulated new research avenues.
• The system has increased collaborative interest in agricultural safety and health, both domestically and internationally.
• This surveillance system and its dataset are expected to remain valuable resources for public and private stakeholders.