RECORDING, NOTIFICATION, COMPLICATION, AND CLASSIFICATION OF STATISTICS OF OCCUPATIONAL ACCIDENTS AND DISEASES - THE THAI EXPERIENCE

An International Labour Organization (ILO) project was conducted in Ju ly and August 1995 in Thailand to assist with the development of an in formation system on occupational accidents and diseases for the Workme n's Compensation Fund (WCF). The WCF provides cash benefits and medica l care to insured workers who suffer employment injuries. The project included literature research based on the facilities of the ILO in Ban gkok, and those of the Thai government, and a thorough review of the I LO Code of Practice (the Code) on recording and notification of occupa tional accidents and diseases, and of other international recommendati ons on statistics of occupational accidents and diseases. A comparativ e study of various notification systems of occupational accidents and diseases in Australia, Canada, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States was conducted. The project also included fact-findin g sessions among various information suppliers and users in Thailand. The Thai notification form for collecting- data for the database was r edesigned and pretested. Results of the project indicated that the Cod e is appropriate for the recording and notification of occupational ac cidents and diseases in Thailand. In addition, a number of information requirements, which were included in the notification systems in the countries studied but not listed in the Code, were found to be useful for the database. A list of the baseline variables to be included in t he proposed database was developed, the notification form was redesign ed, and coding schemes for the information collected on the redesigned form were constructed on the basis of international standard classifi cation systems for economic activity, employment status, occupation, n ature of injury, occupational disease, body part, type of accident, an d agency. A number of mechanisms were suggested for cross-checking the accuracy of data in the database. Based on the review of the Code and other international recommendations on statistical reporting; a list of baseline statistics was formulated for inclusion in the WCF annual report. Lastly, some suggestions for future statistical analysis of th e database were given.