National Occupational Injury Research Symposium (NOIRS)

NOIRS 2015

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), in partnership with the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety (LMRIS), the National Safety Council (NSC), and the Society for Advancement of Violence and Injury Research (SAVIR), hosted the sixth National Occupational Injury Research Symposium (NOIRS 2015) on May 19 to 21, 2015 at the Camp Dawson Training Center in Kingwood, West Virginia. NOIRS is the only national forum focused on the presentation of occupational injury research findings, data, and methods.

This symposium served numerous objectives aimed at preventing traumatic occupational injury through research and prevention. They included:

• Presenting current research findings.
• Fostering collaboration among researchers from a broad range of disciplines, perspectives, and topic areas.
• Identifying "best practices" for the prevention of work-related injuries.
• Exploring the cost-effectiveness of injury prevention strategies and interventions.
• Showcasing innovative and high technology approaches to research and prevention.
• Continuing to promote the implementation of the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA).

Questions addressed included:

• What are the latest traumatic occupational injury research findings?
• What are emerging problems and research areas in workplace trauma?
• How is Prevention through Design being applied to occupational injury research and prevention?
• What activities are being done to implement Research to Practice in the area of traumatic occupational injury?
• What are the best practice intervention and prevention strategies?
• What are the economic costs of traumatic occupational injuries? Are the prevention strategies cost-effective?
• What are the trends in traumatic occupational injury and fatality incidence? In research tools, techniques, and methods? In prevention?
• What specific workplace risks are faced by adolescents, older adults, foreign-born workers, non-English-speaking workers, low-literacy workers, temporary/contingent workers, and other vulnerable populations?
• What specific workplace risks are faced by construction workers, corrections officers, commercial fishing workers, commercial aviators, fire fighters – both general and wildland, and other high-risk populations?
• How can researchers and practitioners in different industry sectors and disciplines better collaborate and coordinate their activities to reduce traumatic occupational injuries?
• What methods are available to assess, quantify, and compare traumatic occupational injury risks?