Safe • Skilled • Ready Workforce Program

Window of Opportunity

The future of the American workforce is a growing concern across the nation, in all parts of the economy, and at all levels of business and government. Because of this focus, there is a window of opportunity to merge workplace safety and health into a national conversation. One way to do this is through promoting the NIOSH Safe–Skilled–Ready Workforce Program. Down the road, it may be harder to gain traction as the conditions for addressing the skills gap may change. Not preparing a Safe–Skilled–Ready Workforce will cause many problems:

• More workplace injuries and illness
• Higher healthcare and related costs
• Lower productivity
• Loss of economic viability and competiveness