ABSTRACT
Injury and illness recordkeeping is a requirement for most places of employment in the United States. It is
also a good idea from a moral and a business standpoint. Without good and consistent records of injuries
and illnesses, it is difficult to impossible to determine the status of the safety and health of a job site, facil-
ity, or organization. It is difficult to track the progress of methods and procedures implemented to
improve the safety and health of an organization. If injury and health data are not tracked, problems
that could have been corrected may go undetected sometimes resulting in serious injuries and illnesses
and unnecessary costs that could have been avoided. Finally, injury and illness records allow the tracking
of the bigger picture for facilities, companies, industries, and the whole country so that needs can be
identified and resources can be allocated appropriately.
