AGO 1991-020.

• Case Date: June 10, 1991
• Court: Connecticut

Connecticut Attorney General Opinions 1991. AGO 1991-020. June 10, 1991Opinion No. 1991-020Susan S. AddissCommissionerDepartment of Health Services150 Washington StreetzHartford, CT 06106 Dear Commissioner Addiss: In a letter dated January 15, 1991, your predecessor requested the opinion of this office regarding two questions concerning the implementation of 1990 Conn. Pub. Acts. No., 90-226 (codified at Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31-396 et seq.). This Act provides in general for grant-in-aid for occupational health clinics and places responsibility for the surveillance and evaluation of occupational illnesses and injuries with various state agencies. 1990 Conn. Pub. Acts No. 90-226. Your questions arise from Section 4 of the Act (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31-399) which provides:

(a) The statistical division within the workers' compensation commission shall receive and coordinate data from occupational health clinics, auxiliary occupational health clinics and other data bases and medical sources concerning occupational illnesses and injuries at various sites and related to various occupations.

(b) The division shall coordinate data collection activities from current available and competent sources, from new sources and from occupational health clinics and auxiliary occupational health clinics and shall, in cooperation with the division of worker education within the workers' compensation commission, educate unions, employers and individual workers on use of the surveillance system. Data collection and reporting shall be in a form which is consistent with the system used by the United States Centers for Disease Control.

(c) The division shall publish a summary of the data collected pursuant to this section on not less than annual basis.

1990 Conn. Pub. Acts No. 90-226, § 4 (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31-399). As indicated in your letter, the Department of Health Services, the Department of Labor and the Workers' Compensation Commission are contemplating a joint effort in the collection and evaluation of occupational illnesses and injuries. As each agency is involved in the collection of occupational disease data, all three agencies desire to establish a single reporting process to avoid imposing multiple reporting requirements on health care providers.1 The Act also contemplates the cooperation and involvement of the three agencies in various aspects...