NIOSH Seeks Public Participation, Input for Town Hall Meetings on NORA

Contact: Fred Blosser (202) 401-3749

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is seeking public participation and input from individuals and organizations for a series of town hall meetings on the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA). The town hall meetings will begin with a meeting on Dec. 5, 2005, in College Park, Md.

NORA is a national agenda for planning, stimulating, and supporting scientific research that will have the greatest impact for preventing work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths. It was originally developed in 1996 in a partnership involving NIOSH and more than 500 individuals and organizations. As NORA approaches a 10-year milestone, NIOSH is hosting the public meetings to seek input on important research issues and agendas.

Given that NORA represents a broad-based partnership involving government, business, the worker community, academia, and others, public input is essential for planning future directions for the initiative, based on a focus on eight different industry sector groups. Each town hall meeting will be structured to provide an opportunity for regional and multi-sector input during the morning, followed where appropriate by an afternoon session to focus on individual sector issues.

NIOSH asks that all participants register for the meetings online or at the day of the meeting. Participants wishing to speak are encouraged to register early. The public meetings are open to all workers, professional societies, organized labor, employers, researchers, health professionals, government officials and elected officials. Broad participation is desired.

The public meetings will address both regional and sector-specific priorities for research. During the morning session, stakeholders will be invited to speak for three to five minutes on an important occupational safety and health issue, including those that occur in multiple sectors. Where noted in the agenda, the afternoon session will focus on sector-specific problems facing the nation. Again, participants will be asked to make three- to five-minute presentations describing what they perceive to be the top concerns within their sector or sub-sector. Participants are encouraged to attend both the regional and sector-specific sessions, or they may elect to participate in only one session.

More information on the town hall meetings, including a link for registering online, is available at www.cdc.gov/niosh/nora/townhall/default.html. The first meeting on Dec. 5, 2005, is co-sponsored by NIOSH, The Johns Hopkins University, and Harvard University. It will be held at the Holiday Inn, 10000 Baltimore Avenue, College Park, Md., beginning at 8:00 a.m. for onsite registration. There is no charge for registration.

For more information on NORA, including activities and products from the first decade, and planning for the second decade, see www.cdc.gov/niosh/nora/.