Steps to a Healthier US Workforce: Integrating Occupational Health and Safety and Worksite Health Promotion

This presents the rationale and scientific evidence for coordinating and integrating worksite health promotion and occupational health and safety as a means of enhancing the effectiveness of efforts to promote and protect worker health. Commissioned by NIOSH for its 2004 Steps to a Healthier US Workforce Symposium, this paper is intended to stimulate discussion and improve communication between the fields of worksite health promotion and occupational safety and health. This describe the parameters of each approach and suggest common goals and areas to increase coordination, with special attention to the implications of a rapidly changing labor market on future research priorities. It present recommendations for future research, barriers to be overcome to advance knowledge in this area, and suggestions for creating additional opportunities for scientists from a broad range of disciplines to engage in integrated occupational health and safety/worksite health promotion research aimed at improving worker health.