“To build an algorithm that would automate the traditionally manual process of coding and filing workplace injury reports in occupational and safety health surveillance systems, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) turned to crowdsourcing.”
“According to Stephen Bertke, research statistician at NIOSH’s Division of Field Studies and Engineering, its first-time approach to automation was the right one for the agency, which is a component unit of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). NIOSH was able to quickly identify and begin using an algorithm that can accomplish in hours or a day what previously took as long as a year to complete…”
“NIOSH held two crowdsourcing competitions. The first was internal to CDC employees. Ten teams volunteered time to play with a set of 200,000 workers’ compensation claims from the National Injury Electronic Surveillance System and a test set of 25,000, Bertke said. Another 25,000 claims were held back to run the final score on. The data is from the National Injury Electronic Surveillance System, a random survey of U.S. hospitals in which medical professionals enter data on work-related injuries treated in emergency rooms…” Read the full article here.
Source: Automation, crowdsourcing add up to winning algorithm – By Stephanie Kanowitz, March 13, 2020. GCN.
