TOTAL WORKER HEALTH®

Inputs: NIOSH Strategic Goals

The NIOSH Total Worker Health^® Program is in the process of developing a strategic plan to guide our research, practice and partnership efforts over the next decade.

NIOSH Program Portfolio Approach

NIOSH has been organizing research, guidance, information, and service efforts into specific programs that can be readily communicated and strategically governed and evaluated. There are ten NORA Sector Programs representing industrial sectors and 24 Cross-Sector Programs are organized around adverse health outcomes, statutory programs, global efforts, and other cross-cutting issues of high priority.

The Sector Programs intersect with Cross-Sector Programs in a matrix-like fashion. For example, a goal of reducing injuries and fatalities due to falls in construction would likely be a shared goal between the Construction Sector and with the Traumatic Injury Cross-Sector Program and, if appropriate, would be adopted by both programs. This approach allows multiple programs to work together towards the accomplishment of intersecting goals.

NIOSH Total Worker Health^® Program Goals for Intramural Research

• Strategic Goal 1: Increase the adoption of integrated health protection and health promotion programs and activities to reduce the risk of occupational illness and injury and advance the overall health and well-being of workers.
  • Intermediate Goal 1.1: Organizations, professional associations, and government agencies committed to work force health will adopt and disseminate information to help employers implement effective practices connecting health protection and health promotion.
  • Intermediate Goal 1.2: Employers and employee groups, including the public sector work force, will pilot test and/or implement promising or proven workplace policies, practices, and programs that address, coordinate or integrate health protection and promotion.
  • Intermediate Goal 1.3: The NIOSH-funded Total Worker Health^® Centers of Excellence to Promote a Healthier Workforce will conduct research and pilot-test practices to demonstrate the effectiveness of comprehensive work-based health protection/health promotion interventions and disseminate their findings.
  • Intermediate Goal 1.4: Federally-funded workplace health protection and health promotion programs developed to advance the health of all workers, including those in the Federal sector, will adopt, incorporate and advance the policies, programs and practices of Total Worker Health™.
• Strategic Goal 2: Protect and promote the overall safety, health, and well-being of the workforce through research that investigates the joint effects of work and non-work factors and evaluates interventions that integrate health protection with health promotion.
  • Intermediate goal 2.1: Research products from the NIOSH Total Worker Health^® program are adopted and applied by agencies, associations and organizations for the development of guidance (e.g., a consensus standard), training, policy, and other efforts to create comprehensive workplace programs to prevent worker illness, injury, and disease.

NIOSH Total Worker Health^® Program Priority Goals for Extramural Research

The NIOSH Total Worker Health^® Program selected both strategic goals as priorities for extramural research during fiscal years 2014-16:

• Strategic Goal 1: Increase the adoption of integrated health protection and health promotion programs and activities to reduce the risk of occupational illness and injury and advance the overall health and well-being of workers.
• Strategic Goal 2: Protect and promote the overall safety, health, and well-being of the workforce through research that investigates the joint effects of work and non-work factors and evaluates interventions that integrate health protection with health promotion.

Those seeking NIOSH grants to conduct studies related to the Total Worker Health^® Program can view the current funding opportunities .

NIOSH is interested in your opinions about the relevance and value of strategic goals for the Total Worker Health^® Program. We encourage you to consider partnering with us on issues of interest to you and your organization.