Utah Student Injury Reporting System

The Violence and Injury Prevention Program (VIPP) has been gathering injury-related school data since 1990 through the Student Injury Reporting (SIR) system. SIR was one of the first statewide school injury reporting systems developed in the United States. From 1998-2002, Utah schools submitted reports on nearly 33,000 criteria injuries – for an average of 6,600 per year. But because there is no law that requires schools to report injuries, the Utah Department of Health estimates the true number may actually be twice as high.

How does Utah compare with the U.S.?
On a national level, middle- and high school students sustain more injuries than elementary school students. But Utah data show that elementary school students suffer injuries at a slightly higher rate. The graph below shows how U.S. and national injury rates compare:

In Utah and across the nation, most grade school injuries occur on the playground and playfield. In contrast, sports injuries take the lead in secondary schools, as students enter competitive sports. However, this is another area where Utah and national numbers differ, as reports show 46% of all Utah school injuries involve sports, but the U.S. rate is 55%.

This difference points to an inherent problem with any school injury reporting effort. For example, some Utah school districts are better than others at reporting injuries, a fact that may make those schools appear to have more students getting hurt. It’s also known that coaches tend to report injuries less often, making those kinds of activities appear safer than they may actually be.

What are the risk factors?
There are many factors that put students at risk for injuries, including:

• poor monitoring and supervision of children
• risk-taking behaviors among students
• poor decision making skills among students
• inadequately maintained equipment
• lack of staff awareness of injury prevention
• lack of athletic conditioning
• lack of knowledge of appropriate safety procedures

Why is it reporting important?
The Student Injury Reporting (SIR) system is a critical piece of the state’s injury prevention efforts because it gives injury professionals accurate data that identify where, when, how and why students get hurt at school. By using this information, education officials can pinpoint risk factors at individual schools and develop safety guidelines and prevention programs.

School-related injuries are a significant public health problem. Appropriate interventions and prevention programs can minimize the physical and financial impact of injury on the individual, family, school, and community.

What is being done?
The following activities are underway to make Utahns more aware of the problem of school injury and of the importance of prevention:

• Bi-annual publication of a Student Injury Report
• Publication of articles in professional journals using school injury data
• Continuing education for personnel responsible for completing school injury forms
• Educating all school district superintendents regarding data findings
• Maintaining an accurate and current school injury database; and
• Providing current data to all who are interested.

For more specific information on the numbers and kinds of injuries occurring in Utah schools, please see a list of our fact sheets.

Please contact us for more information.