Inventory of Federal, Provincial and Territorial Environmental and Occupational Health Data
Sources and Surveillance Activities

Introduction

Background/Context

In 2001 a comprehensive assessment of the current state of environmental and occupational health (EOH) surveillance in Canada was commissioned by the Federal/Provincial/Territorial (F/P/T) Environmental and Occupational Health Surveillance Working Group (EOHSWG), a subgroup of the F/P/T Committee on Environmental and Occupational Health.

The assessment report, Strengthening Environmental and Occupational Health Surveillance in Canada concluded that there was a need to strengthen national EOH surveillance. A major initiative resulting from the report's findings and recommendations was the compilation of an inventory of federal, provincial and territorial environmental and occupational health data sources that would be useful for surveillance purposes.

Accordingly, work on the inventory began in 2001 under the auspices of the EOHSWG as an essential initial step in building national EOH surveillance capacity in Canada. Work continues under the guidance of the Health Canada's Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch (HECSB) Surveillance Working Group (SWG), which was established following a May 2002 HECS Workshop on Enhancing Surveillance Capacity, aimed at identifying HECS surveillance needs and enhancing surveillance and monitoring capacity at the federal level. The needs assessment stage of this work includes the determination of what data sources currently exist in the area of environmental and occupational health.

F/P/T Environmental and Occupational Health Data Source Inventory

The resulting inventory of EOH data sources is based on the findings of a survey of F/P/T government departments (primarily ministries of health, of environment, and of labour). Although limited funds did not allow for a comprehensive or exhaustive survey, the information gathered on the approximately 100 databases identified thus far is a good start to compiling a larger inventory which will be updated on a continuous basis as new databases, datasets, or data sources are identified. The databases listed in the current inventory cover can be categorized by topic area, as follows:

• Air quality (11 databases)
• Water quality (12)
• Cancer (6)
• Environmental contaminants (5)
• Food contaminants (2)
• Hazardous materials / contaminated sites (5)
• Infectious diseases (7)
• Respiratory health (4)
• Occupational health & safety (21)
• Product safety (1)
• Soil contaminants (2)
• Pesticides (2)
• Poisonings (3)
• General environment (5)
• Other (15) (risk factors, drugs and controlled substances, climate changes, community health, cardiovascular health, community health, climate change)

The EOH surveillance-related databases listed in this inventory will also be included in the Infospace Inventory of Health Canada's Centre for Surveillance Coordination (Population and Public Health Branch), along with databases from the other 4 relevant health surveillance areas (communicable disease, chronic disease, injuries, and biotechnology). CSC is currently developing a prototype portal application for its Infospace Inventory of these surveillance data sources.

Additional Data Sources

There are many other environmental and occupational health-related data sources yet to be explored, including those of non-governmental organizations, both within Canada and internationally. These will be added to the current inventory as it is updated on a regular basis. As well, many of the data sources/databases listed in a companion Health Canada Inventory of Injury Data Sources and Surveillance Activities, compiled by the Centre for Surveillance Coordination (CSC) are relevant to the occupational health surveillance component of the work of Health Canada's HECS Branch. For those databases which are common to both inventories, some of the information may be different for a particular database, but generally both sources are consistent in their content. Both inventories were compiled using different survey questionnaires, as the two projects were undertaken independently by the HECS Branch and the Population and Public Health Branch of Health Canada, in keeping with their respective mandates and priorities.

The full citation for the CSC injury data source inventory is as follows:

Inventory of Injury Data Sources and Surveillance Activities. A Project of the Injury Surveillance Sub-group of the Health Surveillance Working Group. Centre for Surveillance Coordination, Population and Public Health Branch, Health Canada, 130 Colonnade Road, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0K9. (Contact person: Alan Hotte)

Benefits of Integrating Environmental Monitoring and Health Surveillance Data

Most of the databases listed in this inventory house environmental monitoring data and/or health surveillance data. The monitoring data gathered on environmental conditions can be overlaid with data on health outcomes to provide information on the linkages between environmental hazards and human health. Such integration of environmental monitoring and health surveillance data serves a number of important functions, i.e.:

• to better understand present and emerging conditions in the environment and the health outcomes that are influenced by them;
• to contribute to the management of health risks and outcomes;
• to conduct outbreak investigations;
• to analyze health status;
• to guide public health interventions to minimize health problems;
• to evaluate public health interventions;
• as an early warning system for identifying potential health risks (for example, by linking ambient air quality monitoring data to the incidence of respiratory diseases such as asthma, it has been determined that poor air quality has a significant adverse impact on mortality and morbidity in the general population);
• to guide the adoption of measures to prevent and reduce environmental risks; and
• to develop environmental health indicators to inform decision-making and the general public.

A Great Source of Information for Contaminated Sites and Environmental Assessment

As noted above, this environmental and occupational health data source inventory will continue to grow, comprising an excellent source of information that can be used to undertake epidemiological studies and to assist in risk assessment at contaminated sites. Furthermore, it can be beneficial to the environmental assessment process by providing quality background information to adequately assess potential human health impacts associated with proposed clean-up and/or development projects. Please refer to the Index of Data Sources Classified by Subject Area to easily identify the relevant information available in the current inventory.

Related Surveillance and Monitoring Initiatives and Activities

The final section of this report briefly describes a number of related initiatives and activities planned or underway at Health Canada and Environment Canada. These comprise elements of environmental monitoring, environmental health surveillance, and environmental health indicators, in the following topic areas: air quality, water quality, radiation, tobacco use, children's health and the environment, northern contaminants, and integrated monitoring activities. These activities will contribute substantially to federal surveillance and monitoring capacity and add to the growing knowledge base in this area.