Note to Review

June 20, 2008

MEMORANDUM FOR : Reviewer of 1220-0045

FROM : William McCarthy, Chief

Division of Safety and Health Statistics

Office of Compensation and Working Conditions

Bureau of Labor Statistics

SUBJECT : New Electronic Options Form for the Survey of
Occupational Injuries and Illnesses

In January 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) began using a revised electronic options data collection form for the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (Survey) for survey year 2007. In survey year 2005, BLS conducted three tests of electronic collection. The forms for each of these tests were very similar to each other. In survey year 2006, BLS conducted another test of electronic collection, this time using the electronic options form used for test 2 in survey year 2005. The survey year 2006 test had 16 States using only the electronic options form for employers in their States.

In an effort to increase response rate for the electronic collection methods, BLS redesigned the electronic options form for survey year 2007. Using resources from the Office of Survey Methods Research (OSMR), this revised form was cognitively designed and tested with employers. The major changes to the form are detailed below.

• The new form was titled “Instructions for the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, 2007”. Employers seemed to expect a form to fill-out in the previous year and were confused by the four-page form.

• The front page had the sentence, “These reporting options replace the survey booklet from previous years” in red. Again, this was done to lessen confusion and to indicate this was not a form to be filled out.

• The instructions for both the Internet Data Collection Facility (IDCF) option and the e-mail option were simplified and shortened. In addition, the e-mail version used an Adobe fillable form instead of the Microsoft Word version from the previous years.

• The charts showing example statistics from the data collected were made larger. Employers in the cognitive tests were supportive of showing the uses of the data.

The revised electronic options form is included with this note to the reviewer. This change is not expected to have an impact on respondent burden. If you have any questions about this request, please contact William McCarthy by telephone at 202-691-6163 or by e-mail at [email protected].

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