WHOLESALE AND RETAIL TRADE

The NIOSH WRT Program is based on the NORA Wholesale and Retail Trade Sector grouping. It covers approximately 20 million workers in North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industries 42 and 44-45.

In 2015, the wholesale component consists of three subsectors, about 625,000 establishments and 3.6 million employees.

In 2015, the retail component consists of twelve subsectors, about 1 million establishments and 16.7 million employees.

The Number of Workers is obtained from the 2015 Current Population Survey, http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat18.pdf , accessed August 24, 2016

The WRT sector’s primary function is to develop and implement interventions designed to reduce the rate of work-related injuries/illnesses and fatalities. This is accomplished using the Public Health Model that is based on the following four functions:

• improving our health related surveillance functions,
• conducting research to establish causal relationships between workplace hazards and adverse health outcomes,
• evaluating the effectiveness of interventions to reduce injuries, illnesses and fatalities, and
• sharing the information with employees, employers, practitioners, academic partners, and trade associations (both professional and labor).

This work enables other government agencies, employers, and other organizations to take steps to improve the overall health and well-being of the WRT workforce.

The WRT program’s priority populations consist of permanent and temporary employees who frequently are at risk of incurring workplace injuries, illnesses and even fatalities. Temporary workers in particular are often rushed into their new job assignments without sufficient workplace safety and health training to assure their well-being. When the jobs are new to them both permanent and temporary employees are often unfamiliar with the specific hazards at their new workplace.

Another name for temporary workers that may be more descriptive of their status is “contingent workers.” Contingent workers are more likely to be young, female, black or Hispanic, and to have lower incomes and fewer benefits. An increasing body of evidence suggests, contingent workers are at higher risk of work-related injury than those who have been on the job for a period of time.