Strategic Plan: FYs 2019−2023 Service Goals
Service activities contribute to the NIOSH mission by providing a service to individuals and organizations outside of NIOSH, support internally to NIOSH staff, or a combination of the two. Some services are mandated by law. Services can support a single sector or cross-sector (e.g. the Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program benefits the mining sector), while others are crosscutting (e.g. FACE investigates fatalities in a wide range of industries with a variety of causes). NIOSH provides the following service work:
- Respirator approvals
- Health Hazard Evaluations (HHE)
- Radiation dose reconstruction
- Emergency preparedness and response activities, except Disaster Science Responder Research (DSRR) activities
- Global collaborations
- Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program activities
- B-Reader certification
- Spirometry
- MINER Act activities
- Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) activities
- Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention (FFFIP) activities
- Injury and illness surveillance (but not surveillance research)
- Information and dissemination activities, including the NIOSH website and NIOSHTIC-2 publications database
Intermediate goals identify improvements and maintenance of service activities that allow organizations or individuals to take action more easily or quickly. In some cases, NIOSH’s stakeholders are able to take direct action to improve occupational safety and health, such as the employers who receive HHE reports. In other instances, service is less direct. For example, the NIOSH web team might provide support to NIOSH staff, who are then able to post new information online that will help external stakeholders take action.
Intermediate goals can support more than one strategic goal. Focused service activities may flow from only one strategic goal, but others might support a broad range of occupational safety and health activities and flow from several strategic goals, or even all seven.
Activity goals are statements of activities that improve or maintain the timeliness, relevance, and quality of services. If improvements are not possible, programs establish goals around maintaining high quality service functions.
Supports Strategic Goals 1-7
Intermediate Goal [SS] 1.1 NIOSH sector and cross-sector programs and external stakeholders use NIOSH surveillance data and information products to identify, monitor, and evaluate occupational safety and health hazards and work-related health outcomes, reduce occupational illnesses and injuries and control hazards, and promote well-being among workers.
Activity Goal [SS] 1.1.1 The surveillance program will maintain and enhance the quality and timeliness of ongoing NIOSH-based or NIOSH-enhanced surveillance systems that provide data on the burden of hazards, illness, and injuries among workers and the impact of interventions. These include, but are not limited to:
- Adult Blood Lead Epidemiology and Surveillance (ABLES)
- State-Based Surveillance of Work-Related Asthma (WRA)
- Occupational Hearing Loss (OHL) Surveillance
- Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (Industry and Occupation module)
- Commercial Fishing Incident Database
- Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program
- Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation
- Firefighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program
- Fatalities in Oil and Gas Extraction (FOG)
- NEISS-Work: National Electronic Injury Surveillance System—Occupational Supplement
- National Occupational Mortality Surveillance (NOMS)/ National Occupational Respiratory Mortality System (NORMS)
- Occupational Health Safety Network
- Sensor-Pesticides: Pesticides Illness and Injury Surveillance
- State-based Surveillance Silicosis Program
- NIOSH Center for Workers’ Compensation Studies (CWCS)
Activity Goal [SS] 1.1.2 The Surveillance Program will develop technology to support and enhance ongoing and new NIOSH-based surveillance systems
Activity Goal [SS] 1.1.3 The Surveillance Program will use traditional, web-based, social media and newly emerging tools and resources to disseminate occupational safety and health (OSH) surveillance data and make it easier to access and use.
Activity Goal [SS] 1.1.4 The Surveillance Program will encourage the inclusion in information systems of standardized codes and narrative information related to work to increase the understanding of relationships between work and health.
Activity Goal [SS] 1.1.5 The Surveillance Program will identify and analyze new data sources to fill gaps in diseases, injuries, and exposures in worker populations
Strategic Goal 6: Improve workplace safety to reduce traumatic injuries.
Intermediate goal [SS] 2.1: Industry (producers, workers, manufacturers, suppliers), academia and other governmental agencies use NIOSH research initiated under the MINER Act program to develop and implement workplace solutions to reduce risk of mine disasters and improve the survivability of mine workers.
Activity Goal [SS] 2.1.1: Identify critical health and safety technology gaps in mining and solicit (through a BAA or RFP process), award and monitor technology development and commercialization contracts to address these gaps.
Activity Goal [SS] 2.1.2: Solicit, award and monitor capacity-building contracts to support tenure-track academic positions and graduate students pursuing advanced degrees in the fields of underground mine ventilation and ground control, with research specifically directed toward major workplace health and safety challenges.
Activity Goal [SS] 2.1.3: Develop interagency relationships through working groups and agreements to identify and utilize existing federal capabilities and research that could be further developed to address health and safety technology gaps in mining.
Strategic Goal 2: Reduce occupational hearing loss.
Strategic Goal 4: Reduce occupational musculoskeletal disorders.
Strategic Goal 5: Reduce occupational respiratory disease.
Intermediate goal [SS] 2.2: Industry (producers, workers, manufacturers, suppliers), academia and other governmental agencies use NIOSH research initiated under the MINER Act program to develop, adapt and implement new mine safety technology and expedite its commercial availability.
Activity Goal [SS] 2.2.1: Identify critical health and safety technology gaps in mining and solicit (through a BAA or RFP process), award and monitor technology development and commercialization contracts to address these gaps.
Activity Goal [SS] 2.2.2: Solicit, award and monitor capacity-building contracts to support tenure-track academic positions and graduate students pursuing advanced degrees in the fields of underground mine ventilation and ground control, with research specifically directed toward major workplace health and safety challenges.
Activity Goal [SS] 2.2.3: Develop interagency relationships through working groups and agreements to identify and utilize existing federal capabilities and research that could be further developed to address health and safety technology gaps in mining.
Strategic Goal 1: Reduce occupational cancer, cardiovascular disease, adverse reproductive outcomes and other chronic diseases.
Strategic Goal 3: Reduce occupational immune, infectious and dermal disease
Strategic Goal 5: Reduce occupational respiratory disease
Intermediate Goal [SS] 3.1 Users are able to select and use a variety of respirators that meet NIOSH performance requirements.
Activity Goal [SS] 3.1.1 NIOSH will help ensure the integrity of the national supply of respirators by implementing an efficient, high quality respirator approval process.
Activity Goal [SS] 3.1.2 NIOSH will perform post market surveillance activities (e.g., conduct audits and field investigations) to establish corrective measures and inform user decisions on respirator selection (e.g., routine use, grant and stockpile decisions).
Activity Goal [SS] 3.1.3 NIOSH will develop new or improved test systems and methods to facilitate advancing respiratory protection.
Activity Goal [SS] 3.1.4 NIOSH will work with partners to develop and disseminate guidance, recommendations, outreach products and methods regarding selection, use and maintenance of respirators.
Strategic Goal 1: Reduce occupational cancer, cardiovascular disease, adverse reproductive outcomes and other chronic diseases.
Intermediate Goal [SS] 4.1 The Department of Labor and Secretary of HHS use NIOSH dose reconstruction findings to fulfill claims and add new classes to the Special Exposure Cohort, respectively.
Activity Goal [SS] 4.1.1 Conduct timely, high quality radiation dose reconstructions for Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOCIPA) claimants or their survivors.
Activity Goal [SS] 4.1.2 Conduct timely, high quality Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) evaluations for EEOCIPA claimants or their survivors.
Activity Goal [SS] 4.1.3 Respond to Advisory Board Review of site profiles, procedure documents, and dose reconstructions to improve the scientific quality of the program.
Strategic Goal 5: Reduce occupational respiratory disease
Intermediate Goal [SS] 5.1 Coal miners learn about their respiratory health status and are able to make informed choices to improve their personal health outcomes. Industry, labor, policy makers, MSHA, academics, and others with the ability to improve prevention use population level data from the NIOSH Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program to take actions with the potential to reduce the burden of respiratory disease in coal miners.
Activity Goal [SS] 5.1.1: CWHSP will work with mine operators and medical facilities to assure accessibility and high quality of surveillance services.
Activity Goal [SS] 5.1.2: CWHSP will conduct mobile outreach to enhance participation in surveillance.
Activity Goal [SS] 5.1.3: CWHSP will provide timely and useful individual-level information to coal miners about their test results and population-level information describing the burden of respiratory disease to the range of stakeholders interested in prevention.
Strategic Goal 5: Reduce occupational respiratory disease
Intermediate Goal [SS] 5.2 Workers, employers, and other stakeholders have access to medical providers able to competently classify chest radiographs for changes of pneumoconiosis using the International Labour Office (ILO) system.
Activity Goal [SS] 5.2.1: The B-Reader Certification Program will provide physicians with opportunities to learn about ILO classification of chest radiographs.
Activity Goal [SS] 5.2.2: The B-Reader Certification Program will provide physicians with opportunities to document their ability to use ILO classification through a certification examination.
Activity Goal [SS] 5.2.3: The B-Reader Certification Program will improve training and certification testing in ILO classification of chest radiographs through updates using current imaging technology and other efforts.
Strategic Goal 5: Reduce occupational respiratory disease
Intermediate Goal [SS] 5.3 Workers, employers, and other stakeholders have access to spirometry technicians able to competently perform high quality spirometry.
Activity Goal [SS] 5.3.1: The Spirometry Course Certification Program will assist those seeking to provide NIOSH-approved spirometry training courses in establishing and maintaining them.
Activity Goal [SS] 5.3.2: The Spirometry Course Certification Program will periodically audit NIOSH-certified spirometry training courses to assure that the training they provide is of high quality.
Activity Goal [SS] 5.3.3: The Spirometry Course Certification Program will carry out a range of activities to promote high quality spirometry, for example by providing current, evidence-based, informational materials regarding current best-practice spirometry guidelines.
Supports Strategic Goals 1-7
Intermediate Goal [SS] 6.1 Stakeholders submit Health Hazard Evaluation requests that meet the needs of vulnerable populations, address emerging occupational health problems, and can have broad preventive impact.
Activity Goal [SS] 6.1.1 The Health Hazard Evaluation Program will reach out to health departments to increase awareness and use of its services.
Activity Goal [SS] 6.1.2 The Health Hazard Evaluation Program will reach out to employers, employees, and unions in selected industries to increase awareness and use of its services.
Intermediate Goal [SS] 6.2 Stakeholders implement recommendations at workplaces evaluated through the Health Hazard Evaluation Program.
Activity Goal [SS] 6.2.1 The Health Hazard Evaluation Program will maintain its ability to ensure completion of timely, high quality evaluations.
Activity Goal [SS] 6.2.2 The Health Hazard Evaluation Program will evaluate and enhance its communication products to increase adoption of its preventive recommendations.
Activity Goal [SS] 6.2.3 The Health Hazard Evaluation Program will continue to assess effectiveness and obtain feedback from employers, employees, and unions at workplaces it evaluates through an ongoing, systematic followback program.
Intermediate Goal [SS] 6.3 Stakeholders at workplaces not evaluated by the Health Hazard Evaluation Program, and in agencies and organizations, are aware of hazards found and actions recommended during Health Hazard Evaluation Program activities.
Activity Goal [SS] 6.3.1 The Health Hazard Evaluation Program will maintain an up-to-date and user-friendly web page to share the outputs of its activities.
Activity Goal [SS] 6.3.2 The Health Hazard Evaluation Program will use social media to reach a diverse set of stakeholders.
Activity Goal [SS] 6.3.3 The Health Hazard Evaluation Program will share information directly with agencies and organizations that develop standards and guidelines.
Intermediate Goal [SS] 6.4 Physicians, nurses, industrial hygienists, and other professionals use HHE training and education to address workplace health hazards from a public health perspective.
Activity Goal [SS] 6.4.1 The Health Hazard Evaluation Program will offer in-house and field training opportunities for occupational safety and health professionals.
Activity Goal [SS] 6.4.2 The Health Hazard Evaluation Program will provide in-person and online instructional lectures developed from its workplace evaluations.
Supports Strategic Goals 1-7
Intermediate Goal [SS] 7.1 Employers and federal, state and local governments integrate occupational safety and health into planning and preparedness activities for chemical, biological, radiological, and natural events to protect workers.
Activity Goal [SS] 7.1.1 EPRO will translate NIOSH knowledge into federal response and recovery plans to protect workers.
Activity Goa [SS] 7.1.2 EPRO will identify gaps in response knowledge and facilitate opportunities to foster research to generate new knowledge to improve health and safety.
Activity Goal [SS] 7.1.3 EPRO will work to ensure NIOSH is prepared to support responses through personnel and equipment readiness capabilities to respond to events.
Activity Goal [SS] 7.1.4 EPRO will conduct outreach to stakeholders to increase awareness and use of Emergency Responder Health Monitoring and Surveillance (ERHMS) system.
Intermediate Goal [SS] 7.2 Employers and federal, state and local governments integrate occupational safety and health into response and recovery to chemical, biological, radiological, and natural events to protect workers.
Activity Goal [SS] 7.2.1 EPRO will translate NIOSH knowledge into event specific guidance and other products to ensure health and safety of workers.
Activity Goal [SS] 7.2.2 EPRO will provide timely response to stakeholders requests for information during an event.
Supports Strategic Goals 1-7
Intermediate Goal [SS] 8.1 Global partners have the capacity and expertise needed to reduce occupational diseases, injuries and deaths in the U.S. and globally.
Activity Goal [SS] 8.1.1 The Global Collaborations Program will participate in World Health Organization (WHO) efforts to improve capacity for the global surveillance of occupational illness and injury.
Activity Goal [SS] 8.1.2 NIOSH experts participate in Technical Committees that produce international standards addressing a wide spectrum of workplace issues, ranging from respirators to workplace air to silica exposure to laboratory methods, to road safety.
Activity Goal [SS] 8.1.3 The Global Collaborations Program acts as a WHO occupational health collaborating center to enhance global occupational safety and health.
Activity Goal [SS] 8.1.4 NIOSH collaborates with WHO, Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and other international entities to build capacity building of primary care providers and training programs for healthcare workers.
Strategic Goal 6: Improve workplace safety to reduce traumatic injuries
Intermediate Goal [SS] 9.1 Employers implement recommendations in NIOSH FACE reports to prevent similar deaths.
Activity Goal [SS] 9.1.1 NIOSH FACE will provide law enforcement agencies with recommendations to prevent motor vehicle related death to law enforcement officers.
Activity Goal [SS] 9.1.2 NIOSH FACE will provide employers recommendations to prevent deaths caused by robots.
Activity Goal [SS] 9.1.3 NIOSH FACE will provide employers recommendations to prevent deaths identified through State FACE investigations.
Strategic Goal 6: Improve workplace safety to reduce traumatic injuries
Intermediate Goal [SS] 9.2 Fire Fighter stakeholders implement recommendations in NIOSH FFFIPP reports to prevent fatalities.
Activity Goal [SS] 9.2.1 NIOSH FFFIPP will provide recommendations to prevent motor vehicle related death to firefighters.
Activity Goal [SS] 9.2.2 NIOSH FFFIPP will provide the fire service with recommendations to prevent deaths related to structural fires.
Activity Goal [SS] 9.2.3 NIOSH FFFIPP will provide findings from fire fighter fatality investigations to standard setting bodies to improve existing fire service standards.
Supports Strategic Goals 1-7
Intermediate Goal [SS] 10.1 A broad range of stakeholders are aware of and utilize quality information generated by NIOSH.
Activity Goal [SS] 10.1.1 NIOSH health communication and web teams will translate NIOSH research creatively and effectively into quality educational and technical scientific products for employers, workers, and others.
Activity Goal [SS] 10.1.2 NIOSH health communication and web teams will maintain and improve the dissemination of NIOSH information through timely, relevant, quality postings to the NIOSH website.
Activity Goal [SS] 10.1.3 NIOSH health communication teams will maintain and improve the dissemination of NIOSH information through exhibits at scientific meetings and conferences.
Activity Goal [SS] 10.1.4 NIOSHTIC-2, docket, and web teams will maintain and improve the documentation and accessibility of NIOSH research and information products in a bibliographic research database and provide a record of policy development in the NIOSH docket.
Activity Goal [SS] 10.1.5 NIOSH health communication and web teams will maintain and improve the dissemination of NIOSH information through the targeted use of social media and communication products.
Activity Goal [SS] 10.1.6 NIOSH health communication teams will conduct focused dissemination of NIOSH information directly to the public through the response to public inquiries.
Activity Goal [SS] 10.1.7 NIOSH health communication and web teams will maintain and improve the evaluation of NIOSH educational and technical scientific products to more effectively address the needs of internal and external stakeholders
NIOSH is mandated to provide an adequate supply of qualified personnel to carry out the purposes of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The NIOSH funded Education and Research Centers (ERCs) and Training Project Grants (TPGs) are the principal means for meeting this mandate through occupational safety and health (OSH) workforce training, continuing education, regional outreach.
Supports Strategic Goals 1-7
Intermediate Goal [SS] 11.1 NIOSH-trained OSH personnel work in industry, labor, academia and government to improve occupational health and safety for the U.S. workforce.
Activity Goal [SS] 11.1.1 NIOSH-supported ERCs and TPGs provide academic training in accredited undergraduate and graduate degree programs, post-doctoral and academic certificate training of personnel to advance the field of OSH with new and dynamic approaches to reducing work-related injuries, illnesses and fatalities.
Activity Goal [SS] 11.1.2 NIOSH-supported ERCs and TPGs conduct regular needs assessments to identify the OSH curriculum for core and closely related disciplines that supports the competency needs of these professions.
Activity Goal [SS] 11.1.3 NIOSH-supported ERCs and TPGs provide annual report on their trainees’ progress and career placement.
Intermediate Goal [SS] 11.2 OSH professionals, practitioners, researchers and workers improve workplace health and safety by applying knowledge gained through NIOSH-funded continuing education programs for professionals, practitioners, researchers and workers.
Activity Goal [SS] 11.2.1 NIOSH-supported ERCs and TPGs develop and offer needs-based continuing education programs using a variety of modalities, including workshops, classroom instruction, online and other virtual teaching methods to reach their targeted audience.
Activity Goal [SS] 11.2.2 NIOSH-supported ERCs and TPGs conduct regular needs assessments to identify topics, subject matter, course content, length of training and teaching methods most appropriate for the continuing education in the OSH professionals.
Activity goal [SS] 11.2.3 NIOSH-supported ERCs and TPGs provide annual reports on their continuing education program progress.
Intermediate Goal [SS] 11.3 OSH professionals, workers and others apply knowledge gained through NIOSH-funded ERC and TPG outreach programs to reduce work-related injuries, illnesses and fatalities.
Activity Goal [SS] 11.3.1 NIOSH-supported ERCs and TPGs offer outreach programs that promote worker safety and health; reach vulnerable, underserved, and underrepresented worker groups; and meet local, regional or national workplace OSH needs.
Activity Goal [SS] 11.3.2 NIOSH-supported ERCs and TPGs conduct regular needs assessments to identify OSH outreach program needs among businesses, community groups, agencies, or other institutions within the region.
Activity Goal [SS] 11.3.3 NIOSH-supported ERCs and TPGs provide annual reports on their OSH outreach program progress.