CPSC 2006-2009 README.txt Updated June 2011 The Consumer Product Safety Commission Injury and Death database consists of four tables provided by the Consumer Product Safety Commission's National Injury Information Clearinghouse. CPSC maintains this data to help protect the public by alerting people to potential hazards associated with consumer products. This update includes 2006-2009 data. Refer to the record layouts for each table to determine what fields can be found in the data. Included in this database is information regarding potential injuries, deaths and investigations relating to many consumer products. Some of these products include children's toys, ATV's (three- and four-wheelers), bicycles, playground equipment, hobby items, sports equipment, hair dryers, lawn mowers, and many more. Fields include age, race and gender of the victim; state and city of the incident; product type involved and more. What you won't find in this data is information about automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, car seat protection, foods, medicines, cosmetics, medical devices or dissatisfaction with business practices. To find this information, you'll have to contact different agencies. You also will not find patient-specific information such as name and address. This information has been redacted due to privacy issues. Since 2002, city and state information has been included in the database. Each table has a series of narrative fields that offer insight into what happened. To make this data easier to view, NICAR has added a MEMO field in all the tables. This field does not add or change the data. All it does is simply string together the narrative fields in each table. This allows the user to view the narrative in one paragraph or line. For an easier way to read a record in the the MEMO field in Microsoft Access, place your cursor in the MEMO field for the record you would like to see and then press the shift + F2 keys. This will pop the memo up in a new window. Please note when the TKNO field in the IPII table contains a task number, it designates that the case was assigned for investigation (either telephone or on-site). Each completed case (many telephone investigations cannot reach the victim) should have a corresponding record in the INDP data which you should be able to link to the IPII table.Task numbers are not included in the death table. Task numbers also are not included in the NEISS data because of confidentiality issues in identifying the hospital or individual. The following tables are included on this CD or with this download: NEISS06.dbf (36,609 records), NEISS07.dbf (369,841 recorsd), NEISS08.dbf (374,260 records), NEISS09.dbf (391,944 records) - National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (For more information about the NEISS data, please read below.) Each year is kept separately for size reasons. IPII0609 (114,130 records) - Injury/Potential Injury Incident file (The IPII file contains summaries of hotline reports, newspaper accounts, reports from medical examiners and letters CPSC receives.) This data is included in one table for the 2006-2009 years, and it is called IPII0609.dbf. INDP0609 (17,053 records) - In-Depth Investigations (The INDP file contains summaries of investigations into product-related injuries or incidents. The data is based on victim/witness interviews.) All records that have a TKNO (Investigation task number) will appear in this table. You can link records in the IPII table to records in this table by joining on the TKNO field. This data is included in one table for the 2006-2009 years, and it is called INDP0609.dbf. DTHS0609 (13,691 records) - Death Certificate file (The DTHS file contains death certificates where consumer products are involved. The certificates are provided to CPSC through state health departments. Victim identifying information has been removed.) Be aware that the most recent year�s file is incomplete because state information can trickle into the CPSC office, even years later. Each year, though, we update the death files from past few years of data to catch late-arriving data. This data is included in one table for the 2006-2009 years, and it is called DTHS0609.dbf. (NOTE: All tables have .dbt files of the same name on this CD. In order for the tables to function properly, the .dbt files must be moved to and saved in the same folder/directory as the original .dbf. If you have questions about this, please contact NICAR.) Besides the seven tables, the following files are included with the most recent data update: CODES: compatable.pdf - The Product Code Comparability Table is a listing of all product codes with a history of product code changes neisscodes - NEISS product codes PROD0609.txt - Includes product code information (not as detailed as comptable.pdf) PROD0609.xls - Includes product code information PROD0609.dbf- Includes product code information. Can be used to join with main tables ICD10.txt - Contains ICD codes ICD10.xls - Contains ICD codes ICD10.dbf- Contains ICD codes: Can be used to join with main tables CODES.txt - All other codes found within the data. Lookup is based on the name of the field. CODES.dbf- All other codes found within the data. Can be used to join with main tables. REPORT_LEGENDS: Codes provided by the CPSC LAYOUTS: cpsc_layouts.doc - record layouts as provided by the CPSC death.txt, death.xls - record layout for DTHS table indp.txt, indp.xls - record layout for INDP tables ipii.txt, ipii.xls - record layout for IPII tables neiss.txt, neiss.xls - record layout for NEISS tables NEISSinfo: sample_design_97-on.pdf - NEISS sample (design and implementation from 1997 to present) sample_design_79_96.pdf - NEISS sample (design and implementation from manual.pdf - The NEISS coding manual is a description of which cases are included in NEISS, how they're coded and an alphabetical listing of products with current product codes. hospital_map.pdf - Map of CPSC NEISS hospitals tool_for_researchers.pdf - Document to help researchers better understand and use NEISS data 2009highlights.pdf - CPSC's highlights of the 2009 NEISS data All of the tables (.dbf files) are in Dbase IV format, which can be easily imported into any database manager program, including Microsoft Access. Here are the directions for Access: 1) Copy the tables from the CD to your hard drive. 2) Open a blank database in Access, name it and save it. 3) Inside the new database, in the File menu select "Get external data" then select "Import" 4) An import wizard will ask you to locate the file(s). You will need to change the "file of type" to "Dbase IV." 5) Each table will need to be imported separately Some notes on the data: The agency used a three-digit code for children under the age of 2 in the age fields in the CPSC tables. Check the record layouts for the specific coding information. Also, each of the tables includes multiple product fields. For example, "Prod1," "Prod2," etc. This does not necessarily mean that the product listed in Prod1 was the main product involved, or that it was the product that caused the most harm. The fields simply denote which products were involved with the injury or death. "Prod3" is empty in all data. Use the compatable.pdf and prod0609.dbf files to lookup product codes. Be sure to read the record layouts for each table carefully. You will find that some fields will be entirely blank for certain years. This is because CPSC decided to either begin or drop the reporting of that field. The record layouts note which years field reporting was dropped or added. According to CPSC, death records may not match up in other tables. To use the accurate death count, use the dths.dbf. At one time the CPSC restricted New York City, NJ, ME, LA, TX, and PA death data per agreements with these states. We�ve been told this is no longer the case because the volume of FOIAs made their jobs unmanageable. Products are identified in CPSC's "Product Code Comparability Table" and the "NEISS Coding Manual." More about the NEISS data: (National Electronic Injury Surveillance System) CPSC has been conducting this survey for nearly 30 years. The agency collects reports from 100 hospitals nationwide, which is supposed to be a representative sample of the more than 5,300 U.S. hospitals with emergency departments. The 100 hospitals are grouped into five areas--four representing hospitals of varied size and a fifth that includes children's hospitals. Using the survey data, CPSC produces national estimates of the numbers and types of injuries that are somehow related to consumer products. The CPSC calls these national estimates "product summaries," which are available in paper format from the Commission. The following is a caution about using this data from the CPSC: "NEISS data and estimates are based on injuries treated in hospital emergency rooms that patients say are related to products. Therefore it is incorrect, when using NEISS data, to say the injuries were caused by the product." More information about NEISS data is available on the Web at http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/3002.html You can search CPSC's NEISS database online at www.cpsc.gov/neiss/default.html More information about CPSC and this data is available on the Web at http://www.cpsc.gov/about/clrnghse.html CPSC contact for questions regarding this data: Vicky Leonard Division of Hazard & Injury Data Systems 301-504-7921 vleonard@cpsc.gov If you have any questions about NICAR processing, please contact NICAR at (573) 884-7711 or datalib@ire.org. FROM THE IRE RESOURCE CENTER: "Fan Fires" (story #21838), KIRO-TV investigated the Consumer Product Safety Commission's recall of millions of oscillating fans. "Product Recalls: A Defective Process" (story #16238), Sun-Sentinel (Delray Beach, Fla.), Nov. 28-30, 1999. The Sun-Sentinel investigation discovered that federal secrecy laws withhold important information from consumers, and dangerous products are left on the market even after the government discovers they have injured people. "Consumer Product Safety Commission: Injury/Death Data" (tipsheet #1508), Mike Sherry, Philadelphia NICAR 2002. This tipsheet explains how to use the CPSC's National Injury Information Clearinghouse database. "Databases add depth to pool stories," Uplink, May/June 2002. Mike Sherry gives ideas on how the CPSC death and injury data can add interesting and useful information to average stories.