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What is Total Worker Health®?

Total Worker Health® is defined as policies, programs, and practices that integrate protection from work-related safety and health hazards with promotion of injury and illness prevention efforts to advance worker well-being.

TWH is a holistic approach to worker well-being. It acknowledges risk factors related to work that contribute to health problems previously considered unrelated to work. The TWH approach seeks to improve well-being in the American workforce for the benefit of workers, employers, and the nation by protecting safety and enhancing health and productivity.

Click here to learn more about the important influence that work has on well-being and how the expertise and innovations of NIOSH-funded research can make an impact.

What is Total Worker Health?

Keeping workers safe is the foundation upon which a TWH approach is built. Total Worker Health integrates health protection efforts with a broad spectrum of interventions to improve worker health and well-being.

Research Program

The NIOSH Office for Total Worker Health supports research activities, both intramural and extramural, that effectively integrate workplace interventions that protect workers’ safety and health with activities that advance their overall well-being.

Publications and Reports

The research supporting a Total Worker Health approach is still emerging, but strengthens every year. This page includes two collections of publications tailored to the diverse needs of our stakeholders.

Tools: Let's Get Started!

This page serves as a guide for practitioners for creating or expanding organizational cultures of safety, health and well-being.

  • Page last reviewed: November 6, 2015
  • Page last updated: October 17, 2017
  • Content source:

    TOTAL WORKER HEALTH ® is a registered trademark of the US Department of Health and Human Services

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