TOTAL WORKER HEALTH

Planning, Assessment, and Evaluation Resources

There are many important factors to consider when planning Total Worker Health^® programs, policies, and practices that protect from work-related safety and health hazards and promote injury and illness prevention efforts to advance worker well-being. This page provides planning, assessment, and evaluation resources to help your organization create and sustain a culture of total worker health. Some resources in the table below may offer information that is focused on the protection from work-related safety and health hazards, while other resources may focus on the promotion of injury and illness prevention efforts to advance worker well-being. For this reason, users seeking to plan, assess, and evaluate their TWH efforts are encouraged to consider multiple resources in developing solutions tailored to the needs of their organization.

Planning Resources

Planning tools for programs, policies and practices are essential for developing a robust Total Worker Health (TWH) initiative. The table below provides the latest guidelines and strategies that can assist in implementing integrated health protection efforts with a broad spectrum of opportunities to improve worker health and well-being. Additional TWH planning resources can also be found on the NIOSH TWH website, including the NIOSH TWH webinar series and on-demand training. 

Assessment Resources

While measures exist to assess workplace safety and health, they do not often focus on the synergistic effects of both approaches. Given that organizations vary in resource availability, existing assessments may also be long or impractical for some organizations. The table below highlights emerging and existing assessment tools to consider when developing a cohesive workplace safety, health, and well-being program. Some of the featured resources focus primarily on workplace safety or worker health individually. These resources can be combined with others to offer a more comprehensive organizational assessment.

Evaluation Resources

Evaluation is the systematic study of the value or significance of an object, which can include an intervention/activity, program, or policy. There are varied approaches for conducting evaluations.[1] The evaluation can focus on the implementation process and/or achieved outcomes, with the overall goal of improvement. An effective evaluation design should address these questions:

• What will be evaluated?
• What is the standard for success (e.g., performance level)?
• What evidence will be used to indicate success?
• What conclusions are justified by comparing the available evidence to the standards for success?
• How will evaluation findings be used to improve effectiveness?

Program evaluation is an essential element of effective, comprehensive workplace programs that aim to protect and improve worker safety, health, and well-being. Evaluation results can drive program improvement by enabling key decision-makers to have sufficient, reliable information on which to base their decisions for change. Employers may be at different stages in implementing a TWH initiative. Some employers may have strong occupational safety and health programs and policies in the absence of any initiatives that promote worker well-being, while other employers may have both, but such that these functions are siloed, existing in different parts of the organization. Routine program monitoring and evaluation allows employers to capture where they are in their process of implementing TWH approaches, and to make informed decisions about how to proceed.[2]  The table below provides evaluation resources that may be helpful in evaluating a TWH initiative.

About the Resource Table

The table below features resources that can support the planning, assessment, and evaluation of TWH programs, policies and practices. The column cells under the name and description of each resource point out where information specific to assessment, planning, or evaluation can be found within the resource. A blank column cell indicates that the resource does not contain information specific to the column heading. This non-exhaustive list of free, publicly available sample resources is provided for general knowledge and guidance.

Table 1. Examples of Resources for Planning, Assessing, and Evaluating Total Worker Health Programs, Policies and Practices