Category: Total Worker Health
A Framework for Productive Aging and Work
The aging of the U.S. population has led to a number of changes in the workforce, particularly a movement of the worker distribution toward older ages2, 4. By 2022, about one-third (31.9%) of Americans aged 65 to 74 years will still be working (Toosi 2013). The impact of a longer working life can be significant Read More >
Posted on by 13 CommentsChia-Chia Chang, MBA, MPH; Adele Childress, PhD; and Sara Tamers, PhD: Advancing Total Worker Health initiatives through Partnerships, Workforce Development, and Research
During Women’s History Month, NIOSH will highlight several female researchers and their contributions to NIOSH and America’s workers. Chia-Chia Chang, MBA, MPH, is the Coordinator for Partnership and New Opportunity Development in the NIOSH Office for Total Worker Health® . In this capacity she has helped bring on over 30 partners for Total Worker Health Read More >
Posted on by 1 CommentRetail Worker Safety and Health during the Holidays
The practice of American shoppers looking for a deal on the Friday after Thanksgiving has evolved into a four-day retail event ending with Cyber Monday. This shopping bonanza leading off the holiday shopping season has implications for workers who may have long workdays and expanded work schedules. The approaching season offers an ideal time for Read More >
Posted on by 1 CommentHealth-related Quality of Life (HRQOL): Variation across occupation groups
Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is an individual’s or group’s self-perception of their physical and mental health over time. HRQOL goes beyond the traditionally diagnosable health outcomes to provide a measure of well-being, it has become an important part of health surveillance. HRQOL is used outside of public health by fields such as psychology, social Read More >
Posted on by 8 CommentsNIOSH Presents: Research on Managing Fatigue in the Workplace, Lessons Learned
On March 20-23, 2017, thirteen participants from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) attended the 10th International Conference on Managing Fatigue, in San Diego, California. This year’s conference was the first held in the U.S. since 2009, and was attended by over 260 Read More >
Posted on by 6 CommentsOccupational Health Issues in the USA
Happy New Year. As we start afresh in 2017 I wanted to share my recent editorial in the British journal, Occupational Medicine, “Occupational health issues in the USA”. The article highlights some of the occupational safety and health issues identified as needing attention by the industry sector groups of the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA). Read More >
Posted on by 11 CommentsNational Safety Month
It’s National Safety Month. Each June, the National Safety Council and its partners raise awareness on preventing the leading causes of injury and death at work, on the roads and in our homes and communities. This year’s theme is SafeForLife. Each week of June has a different focus area. In this joint blog from the Read More >
Posted on by 2 CommentsDaylight Saving: Suggestions to help workers adapt to the time change
Spring forward Fall back. We all know the saying to help us remember to adjust our clocks for the daylight saving time changes (this Sunday in case you are wondering). But, what can we do to help workers adjust to the effects of the time change? A few studies have examined these issues but Read More >
Posted on by 15 CommentsTobacco in the Workplace
More than half a century has passed since the first Surgeon General’s Report on the health consequences of smoking. Over that 50-year period, cigarette smoking in the U.S. has declined by more than 50% among all U.S. adults. However, tobacco use continues to be the most frequent cause of preventable death and is responsible Read More >
Posted on by 3 CommentsWork-family Conflict, Sleep, and the Heart
Health care workers represent an increasingly important and ever growing work force in our society. They are also a group of “high-risk workers” meaning they report a lot of musculoskeletal pain, work-related injuries and sleep deficiencies. In addition to this, many health care workers labor in rotating shifts, with little time in-between shifts, so Read More >
Posted on by 7 CommentsThank You Truck Drivers!
When you eat lettuce from California or purchase a new couch, consider how these goods got to your local grocery store or home. Nearly 2 million heavy or tractor-trailer truck drivers cross the nation every year to bring us the goods we are used to finding on our store shelves or to deliver our online Read More >
Posted on by 25 CommentsWorkplace Health Is Public Health
It’s National Public Health Week. Those of us who work in workplace safety and health know that workplace health is an integral part of public health. While “Creating a Healthy Workplace” is one of the five themes of National Public Health Week, the role of workplace health in Public Health is not always clear to the general public. If you Read More >
Posted on by 22 CommentsNIOSH Takes a Stand
Over the past year, NIOSH and its Total Worker HealthTM Program have been traveling the country sharing the evidence and benefits of comprehensively integrating health protection with health promotion, including workplace programs that encourage physical activity, weight loss and stress management. Recently, we launched an internal NIOSH pilot program to explore the use of sit Read More >
Posted on by 63 CommentsJoint Pain in the Workplace
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) include a number of physical conditions affecting muscles, tendons, nerves, ligaments, joints, and other soft tissues that can be caused, or exacerbated, by work. It is estimated that MSDs account for approximately one-third of injury and illness costs in U.S. industry. Many musculoskeletal conditions can result specifically in chronic or short-term joint Read More >
Posted on by 41 CommentsEven a Dummy Knows October is Protect Your Hearing Month
Meet Nick. Nick is a training mannequin who helps NIOSH teach young people and their families about preventing noise-induced hearing loss. Hearing loss can result from working around noise–even non-powered hand tools–without wearing proper hearing protection. It is not uncommon for a 25 year-old farmer or carpenter to have the hearing of a 50 year-old. Read More >
Posted on by 29 CommentsSleep, Pain, and Hospital Workers
We know that decreased sleep duration and extended shifts in healthcare workers are linked to workplace injuries. The effects of decreased sleep on pain in the workplace are less clear. New research from the Harvard Center for Work, Health and Wellbeing –one of four NIOSH Centers of Excellence funded to explore and research the concepts Read More >
Posted on by 18 CommentsMaking the Case for Paid Sick Leave
Does it make economic sense for employers to offer or expand paid sick leave benefits to their employees? A new NIOSH study published in the American Journal of Public Health reported that workers with access to paid sick leave were 28% less likely overall to suffer nonfatal occupational injuries than workers without access to paid Read More >
Posted on by 36 CommentsSafer and Healthier at Any Age: Strategies for an Aging Workforce
Profound changes continue to unfold in the American workforce as Baby Boomers—Americans born between 1945 and 1964—swell the ranks of our workplaces. This has led many employers to fear the possibilities of negative impacts associated with this demographic trend. On one hand, they are concerned that having age-gifted workers on the job may mean escalating Read More >
Posted on by 17 CommentsNIOSH Research on Work Schedules and Work-related Sleep Loss
Yesterday, in honor of National Sleep Awareness Week, we blogged about sleep and work and the risks to workers, employers, and the public when workers’ hours and shifts do not allow for adequate sleep. This blog provides a brief overview of some of the work that NIOSH intramural scientists are carrying out to better understand Read More >
Posted on by 28 CommentsSleep and Work
Sleep is a vital biological function and many Americans don’t get enough. To coincide with National Sleep Awareness Week, the new NIOSH blog post: Sleep and Work summarizes the risks to workers, employers and the public when long hours and irregular shifts required by many jobs do not allow workers to get adequate sleep. Read More >
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