Delivering on the nation's investment in worker safety and health

In: http://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/5643/

Abstract

"It has been nearly 40 years since the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 was passed. During that time, NIOSH has worked diligently to ensure that U.S. workers are safe from occupational illness, injuries, and fatalities while at work. Our strong scientific foundation has guided our work as we strive to fulfill the responsibilities of the Act, and to carry out the duties entrusted to us by Congress. NIOSH's research and recommendations over the years have made a significant impact in reducing and preventing occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. Our work has lead to recommendations on reducing exposures to asbestos, lead, vinyl chloride, and other toxic industrial agents. As the U.S. economy has changed NIOSH has kept pace by addressing the new occupational hazards that have arisen or become more prominent, such as latex allergies, musculoskeletal disorders, indoor air quality, and workplace violence. And with the goal of achieving even greater impact with our research, NIOSH created the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) in 1996. The creation of NORA allowed us to expand our partnerships and leverage resources to meet the needs and challenges of the changing face of work. This document provides a snapshot of our work addressing the safety and health issues that reach across all the U.S. states, industries, and disciplines. Here we have included information about our efforts in traditional and emerging areas such as NORA, research-to-practice, emergency response, nanotechnology, personal protective technology, global collaborations, and other cross-cutting programs. We have also included examples of how NIOSH and our partners are working hard to achieve our shared mission of making the workplace safer and healthier for all workers. As we enter the second decade of the 21st Century, the face of the U.S. economy and the challenges and risks workers face continues to change. These challenges may range from assisting injured, returning military personnel in making the transition to safe, fulfilling civilian work, to the potentially unknown hazards to workers employed in the discovery, development, and production of new sources of renewable energy. Since 1970 we have developed new knowledge and new scientific techniques that can be applied to the workplace. As we continue to move forward, we must also look back to see where we can make changes based on this knowledge to continue to improve the safety and health of all workers. These are just a few of the challenges that NIOSH and our nation face as we look towards the future. As the U.S. looks to the workplace of tomorrow and how we will maintain leadership in the global market, it is important that the safety and health of workers is made an integral part of that strategy. I hope you find this document interesting and engaging and that it stimulates new ideas for ways in which we might collaborate to protect our nation's workers."- NIOSHTIC-2 ; About NIOSH -- The Current State of Worker Safety & Health -- Introduction to NORA -- Agriculture, forestry, & fishing -- Construction -- Healthcare & social assistance -- Manufacturing -- Mining -- Services -- Transportation, warehousing, & utilities -- Wholesale & retail trade -- -- Partnering with NIOSH -- -- Introduction to NIOSH Cross-Sectors -- Authoritative recommendations -- Cancer, reproductive, & cardiovascular diseases -- Communication & information dissemination -- Economics -- Emergency preparedness & response -- Engineering controls -- Exposure assessment -- Global collaborations -- Health hazard evaluations -- Hearing loss -- Immune & dermal diseases -- Musculoskeletal disorders -- Nanotechnology -- Occupational health disparities -- Personal protective technologies -- Prevention through design -- Radiation dose evaluation -- Respiratory diseases -- Small business assistance & outreach -- Surveillance -- Training grants -- Traumatic injury -- WorkLife -- Work organization & stress-related disorders -- -- Challenges about nanotechnology -- -- National Academies' Review -- -- Research-to-practice ; Supersedes DHHS publication ; no. (NIOSH) 2009-144, published Oct. 2009. ; Also available via the World Wide Web.