Systematic reviews of injury-prevention strategies for occupational injuries - An overview

Background: Information on which strategies have been shown to be effective, which are ineffective, and which strategies have been inadequately evaluated is important for both public policy and future research. Objective: The objective of this study was to provide systematic reviews of the literature on important strategies to prevent occupational, including agricultural, injuries. Methods: The Injury Control Research Centers (ICRCs) funded by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Centers for Agricultural Injury funded by the Division of Safety Research, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, identified 12 important occupational and agricultural injury-prevention strategies or areas of research. Systematic reviews of the literature were conducted to identify relevant controlled trials and studies. These were critically reviewed and summarized. Results: A total of 12 reviews were conducted on a range of topics in the occupational injury field. Few randomized controlled trials were found; most controlled studies were either comparisons over time and/or across different populations. In several areas we were limited to summarizing the descriptive literature. Nevertheless, summaries of these studies provide meaningful conclusions about the effectiveness of various interventions to decrease morbidity and mortality from selected occupational and agricultural injuries. Conclusions: A large body of literature on occupational, public health, or injury prevention interventions exists. The summary of this literature provides a framework to both direct policy and guide future research efforts.