Proposed National Total Worker Health Agenda; Draft Available for Public Comment

Press Office Contact: Nura Sadeghpour (202) 245-0673

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Office for Total Worker Health™ has proposed a National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) meant to stimulate innovative research, practical applications, policy guidance, and capacity-building of health protection and health promotion practitioners across the Nation. The draft agenda is available for public comment, until closing of the federal docket on December 22, 2014, 11:59 pm EST.

Stakeholders are invited to provide input on the top priority research, practice, and policy issues to include in the Proposed National Total Worker Health™ Agenda to help improve integrated workplace practices, prevent worker injury and illness, and advance worker safety, health, and well-being.

“A growing body of science supports the effectiveness of integrating health protection programs with health promotion programs in efforts to create workplace interventions that advance worker safety, health and well-being,” said NIOSH Director John Howard, M.D. “A National Agenda with stakeholder input and support is imperative in moving forward with the Total Worker Health™ strategy.”

The NIOSH Total Worker Health™ program is guided by the vision that both work-related factors and health factors beyond the workplace jointly contribute to many safety and health problems that confront today’s workers and their families. The Total Worker Health™ perspective is a broad-based, integrated approach and includes issues related to protecting the safety and health of workers in the work environment, preserving human resources through employment practices, and promoting health and well-being for individual workers.

The Proposed National Total Worker Health™ Agenda includes four strategic goals:

• Advance and conduct etiologic, surveillance, and intervention research that builds the evidence base for effectively integrating health protection and health promotion activities in the workplace.
• Increase the awareness and adoption of effective, integrated occupational safety and health protection and health promotion activities in the workplace.
• Create guidance for policies that promote integration of occupational safety and health protection and health promotion activities in the workplace.
• Build professional capacity to strengthen the Total Worker Health™ workforce and Total Worker Health™ field to support the development, growth, and maintenance of integrated occupational safety and health protection and health promotion activities in the workplace.

The NIOSH Office for Total Worker Health™ encourages all comments, and specifically seeks to address the following questions:

• Do you see your own organization's goals reflected in the Proposed National Total Worker Health™ Agenda?
• What are the bridges between your own work and the Proposed National Total Worker Health™ Agenda?
• Are there any missing components or gaps in the Proposed National Total Worker Health™ Agenda?

To view the Agenda and related materials, and to provide comment, please visit http://www.regulations.gov and enter CDC-2014-0014 in the search field and click "Search."

To learn more about the NIOSH Office for Total Worker Health™ visit: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/TWH/ .

NIOSH is the federal agency that conducts research and makes recommendations for preventing work-related injuries and illnesses. It was established under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. For further information, visit www.cdc.gov/niosh .