Working With Risk: Improving Collection of Industry and Occupation Data During Public Health Surveillance Case Follow-Up in Wisconsin

Context: Surveillance of occupational health conditions has historically lagged behind other types of public health surveillance. Objective: Improving the capture of industry and occupation variables in surveillance case follow-up interviews is one avenue for improving occupational health surveillance. Design: Five approaches were implemented to maintain and improve capture of industry and occupation data during case follow-up in Wisconsin. Setting and Participants: This project involved efforts at the state, local, and Tribal health department level. Main Outcome Measure(s): Counts and completion percentages were assessed for working-age case-patients with reportable conditions in Wisconsin from 2022 through 2024. Results: The completion of industry and occupation fields increased across the 3 years under study, particularly in those conditions with lower initial completion. Conclusions: This project was successful in improving the capture of industry and occupation data for potentially work-related infectious diseases and, generally, for occupational surveillance in the state of Wisconsin.