NIOSH Awards 26 Cooperative Agreements to States for Worker Injury and Illness Surveillance

Contact: Katie Shahan (304) 285-5805

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has announced funding for cooperative agreements with 26 organizations for occupational injury and illness surveillance. The awards include renewals for 23 previously funded state programs, and new awards to three additional state programs.

The 26 awarded institutions consist of 21 state departments of health, 3 universities (University of Illinois-Chicago, University of Kentucky Research Foundation, and Michigan State University), and two state departments of labor (Montana and Washington). The NIOSH extramural funding totals approximately $6.7 million for the initial year of funding.

"State-based health surveillance provides critical information for tracking the incidence of occupational injuries and illnesses, identifying trends, understanding risk factors, and recognizing new and emerging problems," said NIOSH Director John Howard, M.D. "We are pleased that we were able to increase the number of states with which we have agreements."

Twenty one states received five year cooperative agreements; five states received one year of funding and are expected to compete again for funding at the end of that one year period. NIOSH is awarding support for three types of surveillance programs – Fundamental Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Surveillance Programs, Fundamental-Plus OHS Surveillance Programs, and Expanded OHS Surveillance Programs.

The Fundamental and Fundamental-Plus OHS Programs collect and publish OHS surveillance data, establish outreach and partnership activities for injury and illness prevention, and share OHS data and recommendations with agencies, stakeholders, and workers for the health & protection of the workforce. Expanded Programs conduct in-depth activities and projects that address a particular exposure, hazard, disease or workers/occupations.

For more information about the NIOSH supported state surveillance programs, visit: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/oep/reports.html

NIOSH is the federal agency that conducts research and makes recommendations for preventing work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths. For more information about NIOSH visit http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/.