Development of a surveillance program for occupational pesticide poisoning: Lessons learned and future directions

The authors describe the growth from 1987 through 1996 of the Occupational Pesticide Poisoning Surveillance Program at the Texas Department of Health. The program was initiaily based on a Sentinel Event Notification System fo r Occupational Risks (SENSOR) model, using sentinel providers to report cas es, supplementing the passive reporting by physicians that was required by law. The model was evaluated after five years, and significant changes were implemented to improve case ascertainment, Current active surveillance met hods emphasize collaboration with a number of agencies and organizations fo r identification of cases and follow-up, The number of confirmed occupation al cases increased from 9 workers in 1987 to 99 workers in 1996. The evolut ion from a passive system to an active surveillance program expanded the nu mber of reported cases and strengthened inter-agency collaborations.