Category: Communication

Most-viewed NIOSH Products in 2023

Each January we look back at our most-viewed products from the previous year. This helps us gauge our impact and understand the type of information our users are seeking. Interest in all our platforms remains high. The subject matter making our most-viewed lists covers a wide range of topics including the prevention of firefighter cancer, Read More >

Posted on by Garrett Burnett, MS, MBA; Katie Shahan, JD; Burt Tienken; and Julie Tisdale-Pardi, MA1 Comment

The Most-viewed NIOSH Products of 2021

It’s that time of year again when we take stock of the past year and what NIOSH information was most viewed on our channels. As the world and NIOSH continued to fight a pandemic it is not surprising that respirator information dominated on the NIOSH website and the NIOSH Science Blog. NIOSH continues to work Read More >

Posted on by Julie Tisdale-Pardi, MA; Garrett Burnett, MS, MBA; Katie Shahan, JD; and Burt Tienken1 CommentTags

Students’ Contributions to Wikipedia: Making it easier for everyone to find, understand, and use health information

  In 2018, we blogged about an exciting partnership between NIOSH and university graduate programs to improve occupational safety and health information on Wikipedia (see related blog). Using the Wiki Education platform and in coordination with NIOSH researchers, 15 courses were taught since 2016 involving 163 students at seven universities. The impact of these courses Read More >

Posted on by Thais Morata, PhD, and John P. Sadowski, PhD2 Comments

Where Health Literacy Meets Inclusion

October is Health Literacy Month, and this year CDC and NIOSH are celebrating with the theme “Health Literacy and Health Equity: Advancing Diversity, Accessibility, and Inclusion.” Within this title, there is a lot we can unpack. So, let’s break it down and see how all these ideas can interact to improve health communications and materials. Health Read More >

Posted on by Sarah Mitchell, MPH2 Comments

Getting Creative

We are bombarded with information in various forms every minute of our day. How do you break through and get your messages to the appropriate audiences? How do you make information from scientific journals and technical documents understandable and appealing to workers and other non-scientists? NIOSH has a long history of communicating its research through Read More >

Posted on by Julie Tisdale-Pardi, MA9 Comments

Getting the Word Out: NIOSH Publications and Products

It’s an understatement to say that how the world communicates has changed over the course of this century, and certainly in the last 50 years. Over NIOSH’s 50-year history how the Institute communicates its research, and to whom, has also evolved. As a leading scientific agency, our research will always be published in peer-reviewed journals Read More >

Posted on by Julie Tisdale-Pardi, MA

Recognizing Health Literacy at NIOSH

  As we come to the end of Health Literacy Month this October, we remember the quotation often attributed to Einstein, “that all physical theories, their mathematical expressions apart, ought to lend themselves to so simple a description ‘that even a child could understand them.’” There is an expectation in the research community that writing Read More >

Posted on by Tanya Headley, MS; Sarah Mitchell, MPH; and Sydney Webb, PhD2 Comments

Asociación para educar sobre la seguridad y salud del trabajador a personas que están aprendiendo inglés en Alaska

Cuando piensa acerca de la diversidad en los Estados Unidos, ¿le viene a la mente Alaska? Lo cierto es que Anchorage, en Alaska, tiene algunos de los vecindarios y algunas de las escuelas públicas con mayor diversidad étnica y racial de todos los Estados Unidos. Esta diversidad incluye el hecho de que casi uno de Read More >

Posted on by Blog Coordinator

Partnering to Educate English-Language Learners in Alaska on Worker Safety and Health

When you think of diversity in the United States, does Alaska come to mind? In fact, Anchorage, Alaska has some of the most ethno-racially diverse neighborhoods and public schools in the entire U.S. This diversity includes nearly one in ten Anchorage residents identifying as foreign born (Farrell, 2018). In terms of languages spoken in the Read More >

Posted on by Laura Syron, PhD, MPH; Michael Flynn, MA; Theodore Teske, MA; Rebecca Guerin, PhD, CHES; Andrea Okun, DrPH; Devin Baker, MEd; Pauline Smith, MEd; and Erin LoPorto8 Comments

Graduate Students Use Coursework to Provide Health Communication Support on NIOSH Projects

Earlier this month three students enrolled in a graduate-level health communication class at West Virginia University delivered presentations on NIOSH-related projects that they completed as part of their coursework. As part of their projects, students used health communication, social marketing, health literacy, and web design principles and best practices.  Summaries of the student projects and Read More >

Posted on by Gabrielle Henry, Elly Myers and Kylie Wilson2 Comments

Workplace Safety Communications Campaigns Should be Driven by Employer, Industry, Workflow, and Culture

Employees who drive for work face significant roadway risks, and motor vehicle crashes can devastate families, communities, and organizations. Crashes are the leading cause of workplace fatalities, with 1,252 deaths of vehicle drivers and passengers on public roads in 2016. In 2013, on-the-job crashes cost employers over $25 billion and led to 155,000 lost work Read More >

Posted on by Jennifer Alexander, Jules Payne, Sydney Webb, Stephanie Pratt, David Fosbroke, and Rebecca Olsavsky1 Comment

10 Years of Blogging at NIOSH

Ten years ago today we posted our first NIOSH Science Blog, Preventing Fire Fighter Fatalities from Cardiovascular Events. Since then we have posted 433 blogs on a range of topics from A Robot May Not Injure a Worker: Working safely with robots  to Preliminary Field Studies on Worker Exposures to Volatile Chemicals during Oil and Read More >

Posted on by Julie Tisdale-Pardi7 Comments

Using Clear Communication at NIOSH

What is clear communication? Clear communication means using familiar concepts, words, numbers, and images presented in ways that make sense to the people who need the information – your intended audience.     Why should I care about clear communication? Whether you’re communicating health messages to employers or workers, every audience has its own level Read More >

Posted on by Sydney Webb, PhD; Rebecca Olsavsky, MS; Stephanie Pratt, PhD; and Tanya Headley, MS 1 Comment

A Partnership: NIOSH and Mexican Consulates help support the health and safety of workers

  This is the fourth in a series of blogs describing the development and purpose of the Protéjase educational materials. These materials were created as part of NIOSH’s mission to conduct research and determine effective ways of delivering occupational safety and health information. Organizations that serve Spanish-speaking immigrant workers can use these materials to encourage Read More >

Posted on by Mike Flynn, Pietra Check, Amy Filko, Nura Sadeghpour4 Comments

Illustrating the Point: Choosing the right ARTIST for the message

As an artist, please provide one detailed and emotive illustration that captures this message: “You have come to this country looking for a better future. You also want to show that you are hardworking. You have overcome great obstacles to give your family a better life.”  It may be surprising that from these few words Read More >

Posted on by Nura Sadeghpour, Pietra Check, Amy Filko, and Mike Flynn10 Comments

NIOSH Travel Health and Safety Resource Kit for Workers with International Assignments

Travel Internationally for Work? Tell us what you think. Ever looked at international travel resources on the web? There are an incredible number. Most are intended for leisure travel and not for work-related travel, and most are overwhelming in detail. In addition to the many logistics involved in making foreign travel a pleasant and successful Read More >

Posted on by L. Casey Chosewood, MD, MPH; John Gibbins, DVM, MPH; Margaret Kitt, MD; Leslie Nickels, PhD, Med; John Piacentino, MD, MPH; Donna Van Bogaert, PhD; and Kristin Yeoman, MD 15 Comments

Illustrating the Point: Choosing the right ART for the message

If you wanted to deliver a series of public health messages to people gathered at a busy Consulate (think Saturday at the DMV), or at another trusted community organization, how would you do it? We investigated the answer to that question specifically for a Spanish-speaking immigrant worker population, and specifically for conveying information designed to Read More >

Posted on by Amy Filko, Pietra Check, Mike Flynn, Nura Sadeghpour37 Comments

Protect Yourself at Work: A Series of Print and Video Materials for Spanish-speaking Immigrant Workers

Recently, NIOSH released a series of multi-media communication products for organizations that serve Spanish-speaking immigrant workers entitled Protéjase en el trabajo (Protect yourself at work). This series of products is a result of a multi-faceted project that includes 1) a partnership between NIOSH and the Mexican Consulates in the U.S. and 2) the development of Read More >

Posted on by Pietra Check, Amy Filko, Mike Flynn, Nura Sadeghpour9 Comments

The NIOSH eDoc: New way to get NIOSH information on the Move

  The new NIOSH eDoc provides a mobile-friendly format for short NIOSH publications. This new publication product presents workplace safety and health information in a way that is accessible and easy to use on any mobile device, desktop, or laptop computer. NIOSH eDocs are created using Responsive Web Design which enables web content to automatically Read More >

Posted on by Deborah Hornback, MS and Christopher Storms11 Comments

Collaboration with Wikipedia

  For the past four months, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has been doing something new and exciting for a government agency: they have been employing a Wikipedian-in-Residence. This collaboration with Wikipedia makes NIOSH only the second federal agency, and the first federal scientific agency, to engage with the encyclopedia project in Read More >

Posted on by Emily Temple-Wood11 Comments