NIOSH Announces new NORA Partnership Opportunity for Research on Intervention Effectiveness

Contact: Fred Blosser (202) 260-8519
May 26, 1999

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) today announced a new opportunity for partnerships under the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) in Fiscal Year 1999 for research on the effectiveness of intervention strategies and techniques for reducing work-related injuries and illnesses.

In this initiative, NIOSH today requested proposals from outside organizations for cooperative agreements on research to develop interventions and/or to assess the effectiveness of interventions. Proposals may address interventions in any industry sector, but NIOSH will give special consideration to evaluations of interventions in agriculture, construction, services (especially health care), and mining.

NIOSH expects to fund approximately five to seven awards in Fiscal Year 1999, each award ranging from $30,000 to $50,000. Applications may be submitted by public and private non-profit and for-profit organizations and government agencies, including universities, colleges, research institutions, hospitals, and state and local governments.

Applications must be submitted by July 12, 1999, to Sheryl Heard, Grants Management Specialist, Grants Management Branch, Procurement and Grants Office, Announcement 99150, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2920 Brandywine Road, Room 3000, Atlanta, GA 30341. The announcement was published in today's Federal Register. The text of the announcement, including details on required forms, also will appear on the NIOSH Home Page on the World Wide Web at www.cdc.gov/niosh. For further information, call 1-888-GRANTS4 (1-888-472-6874). For program technical assistance, contact Susan Board, NIOSH, 1600 Clifton Road NE, Mailstop D40, Atlanta, GA 30333; tel. (404) 639-2376; e-mail sbb1@cdc.gov.

"One of the most critical areas for occupational safety and health research is intervention effectiveness," said NIOSH Director Linda Rosenstock, M.D., M.P.H. "New strategies and techniques are needed to address current and emerging hazards in the changing American workplace, as we also evaluate the effectiveness of current approaches. With today's announcement, we are pleased to offer new opportunities under NORA to broaden collaborative national research on these issues."

In another initiative, NIOSH is funding a cooperative agreement with the Association of Schools of Public Health under which applications for intervention effectiveness research will be solicited from schools of public health. NIOSH expects to fund approximately three to five awards in Fiscal Year 1999, with each award ranging from $50,000 to $100,000. Applicants are encouraged to partner with academia, labor, or industry. More information is available on the ASPH web site at www.asph.org/niosh99.htm.

NORA was established by NIOSH and its partners in 1996 as a blueprint to guide the national research that will do the most to reduce work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths over the next decade. Today's announcement follows two previous requests for applications under funds to support research in NORA priority areas in Fiscal Year 1999. In those requests for applications earlier this year, NIOSH and six other federal agencies announced the availability of some $9 million for grants in several NORA priority areas.

For further information on NORA and on other NIOSH research, call the toll-free NIOSH information number, 1-800-35-NIOSH (1-800-356-4674) or visit NIOSH on the World Wide Web at www.cdc.gov/niosh.