Background Injuries are a leading cause of death and disability in rapidly developing countries such as Vietnam.

Objectives Our objective was to apply an active injury surveillance system describing the burden of injuries in an industrially developing commune in 2 years (2008 and 2009).

Methods Injury data were collected from different sources including a District Hospital, a Commune Health Station and the first aid boxes located in 40 enterprises.

Each injury was interviewed by health staff describing the circumstances of each injury including causes, occurring time, injured body parts, lost workday, injury severity and treatment expenses, etc.

Results The total number of injuries recorded in 2 years were 1661 cases, in which male got more injuries than female (57,2% vs 42,8%). Almost people (accounting 72%) getting injuries were in working age (20–65-years-old). 47,8% people getting injuries were working in mechanical enterprises. 26% were involved in agricultural work. Majority of injuries were open wound (42.9%), crushing injuries (19,5%) bone fracture and crash (3.5%); burn (4.6%). The main causes of injuries ere struck by/against/caught (41.5%), falls (28.3%), hot objects (4.6%). 46.5% of people getting injuries left work. 77.2% left work for 1–6 days. The total cost for all injuries were 411 693 thousand Vietnamese dong (equivalent to more than 21 thousand US dollar)

Contribution to the Field Applying an active injury surveillance system captured more cases of injuries and described more detail burden of injuries. It is a basis to offer various potential intervention at commune level to prevent actively injuries.