Total Worker Health™ blog series

TOTAL WORKER HEALTH™

Formerly NIOSH WorkLife

Integrating Health Protection and Health Promotion

a woman using an step-machine with a man standing by her side man with respirator on walkway doctor meeting with business woman

Spotlights

What can employers do to prepare for an older and healthier, safer workforce? What are the safety and health implications? Read the latest NIOSH Science Blog on Safer and Healthier at Any Age: Strategies for an Aging Workforce. http://go.usa.gov/fKA
Explore creative ways to make your organization safer, user-friendly, more responsive to our public and more productive. Register today for Healthier Federal Workers 2012. Join us September 18-21, 2012 in Washington, D.C. See the agenda at http://bit.ly/MdVKqm
Call for Proposals! Work, Stress and Health 2013: Protecting and Promoting Total Worker Health™ will be held at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites, Los Angeles, California, on May 16–19, 2013. Deadline for submissions is October 1. To learn more, visit www.apa.org/wsh

What Is Total Worker Health™?

Learn why integration is essential for developing a healthy, effective workforce

Stay Connected to TWH™

Link to our newsletter, comment on our blogs, join us at meetings

Centers of Excellence to Promote a Healthier Workforce

Discover exciting new research into the concepts of Total Worker Health™

Employer and Employee Resources

Guidance, toolkits, and subject-based resources

The promise of a strong American economy depends upon an able, productive workforce. The health risks and challenges of today’s workers have never been starker. The American workforce is rapidly aging and is increasingly burdened by epidemic levels of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions. Middle-aged and young workers are facing earlier onset of chronic health conditions, such as obesity and diabetes.

NIOSH believes that the safest and healthiest worker only evolves in an atmosphere where management is fully engaged in the wellbeing of its staff, where the environment is hazard-free and supportive, and where workplace policies and interventions encourage healthier choices--simply put, where the total health of the worker, in the broadest possible sense, is optimized.

Total Worker Health™ is a strategy integrating occupational safety and health protection with health promotion to prevent worker injury and illness and to advance health and well-being.

Key Total Worker Health™ Reports

The NIOSH Total Worker Health™ Program: Seminal Research Papers 2012
STEPS to a Healthier Workforce
Essential Elements of Effective Workplace Programs and Policies
ACOEM Guidance on Workplace Health Protection and Promotion
The Whole Worker: Guidelines for Integrating Occupational health and Safety with Workplace Wellness Programs [PDF - 4.9MB]
Integrating Employee Health: A Model Program for NASA
Worksite Wellness Programs for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention: A Policy Statement From the American Heart Association
(Journal of the American Heart Association) published online September 30, 2009 This new policy statement by the American Heart Association reflects a comprehensive integrated approach and incorporates the importance of work and the work environment as components of a Work-Site Wellness Program for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention.

If you are a researcher interested in investigating principles, policies, or programs related to Total Worker Health™, please visit NIOSH’s Office of Extramural Programs to learn more about working with NIOSH through grants, cooperative agreements or other mechanisms.