NIOSH funds 10 Centers of Excellence for Total Worker Health

Washington — NIOSH recently recognized four new facilities as Centers of Excellence, joining six existing centers from around the country in efforts to advance the overall safety, health and well-being of the nation’s workforce.

The centers serve as research and practice hubs for NIOSH’s Total Worker Health initiative, building the scientific evidence base necessary to develop new solutions for complex occupational safety and health problems, an agency press release states.

The new centers, to which NIOSH will provide funding, are:

• California Labor Laboratory, University of California, San Francisco – to describe and improve the health impacts of emergent working conditions, with a special emphasis on economically or socially marginalized populations.
• Carolina Center of Excellence in Total Worker Health and Well-Being, University of North Carolina – to help advance NIOSH’s goal of protecting and advancing the safety, health and well-being of the nation’s diverse workforce. This center will serve essential workers and other groups at higher risk of negative workplace health and well-being outcomes.
• Johns Hopkins Psychosocial, Organizational and Environmental Total Worker Health Center in Mental Health – to improve the mental health of the nation’s workforce.
• Utah Center for Promotion of Work Equity – to create a sustainable community of practice that changes the conditions of work and advances TWH through research and outreach.

Existing centers:

• Center for Health, Work and Environment
• Center for the Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace
• Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Center for Work, Health and Well-Being
• Healthier Workforce Center of the Midwest
• Oregon Healthy Workforce Center
• University of Illinois at Chicago Center for Healthy Work

“The research conducted at these centers generates new knowledge to help us keep workers safe and healthy,” NIOSH Director John Howard said in the release. “The expansion of the centers and their expanding regional presence will help us learn more about the important connections between work and health, which is vital for employers to build and retain a safer and more productive workforce.”

NIOSH established the Centers of Excellence in 2005.