Note to Reviewer - 1220-0045

November 18, 2015

MEMORANDUM FOR : Reviewer of 1220-0045

FROM : Beth Rogers, Chief

Division of Safety and Health Statistics

Office of Compensation and Working Conditions

Bureau of Labor Statistics

SUBJECT : Changes to Internet Data Collection Facility for the Survey of
Occupational Injuries and Illnesses

In January 2016, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) plans to begin using a revised internet data collection facility (IDCF) and Adobe collection form for the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII).

Screenshots of the IDCF webpages and the Adobe collection email and form have been included with this note to the reviewer.

The key modifications to the IDCF for 2016:

• Contact preference page (page 8):

  • This page has been added, and allows respondents to opt in to receive notification of the requirement to respond by email. The respondent must make a positive selection to opt in; this selection will be retained and used in subsequent years if the respondent is selected to participate in the survey. The email is pre-filled from the registration email but the respondent can change the email address at this time if desired.

• Section 3 (pages 18 and 19):

  • The narrative text boxes have been changed to allow more than 250 characters. This will allow respondents to cut and paste from administrative records and limit the need for follow up required due to incomplete narrative information.

  • A soft edit was added to alert the respondent when all narrative text boxes remained unfilled at the time the respondent clicked on the save and continue button. The respondent can click save and continue again and all the information entered will be saved and the respondent will be taken to the next page.

• Help request page (page 12):

  • A voluntary drop-down selection box was added to allow respondents to choose their preferred salutation (Mr., Ms., Mrs., etc). This was done to assist in properly addressing respondents requesting help via email.

The key modifications to the Adobe collection form for 2016:

• Instructions email (page 24):

  • The PDF instructions in the email have been updated to assist respondents with troubleshooting problems.

• Case details page (page 30):

  • The narrative text boxes have been changed to allow more than 250 characters. This will allow respondents to cut and paste from administrative records and limit the need for follow up required due to incomplete narrative information.

• Check boxes (pages 27 and 30)

  • Checkboxes throughout the PDF were modified to allow the respondent to deselect a selection. If the respondent does not have the information to answer the question, this will allow the user to deselect an answer and avoid submitting incorrect data.

In addition to the above, broken OSHA web links were corrected and the survey year was updated. These changes are not expected to have an impact on respondent burden. If you have any questions about this request, please contact Beth Rogers by telephone at 202-691-5098 or by e-mail at rogers.elizabeth@bls.gov.

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