2021 State Occupational Safety and Health Surveillance Program Recipients

Contact: Stephanie Stevens, yky0@cdc.gov, 202.245.0641

NIOSH Announces the 2021 State Occupational Safety and Health Surveillance Program Recipients

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is pleased to announce the 22 recipients of the 2021 State Occupational Safety and Health Surveillance Program. Through this program, which is funded via a 5-year cooperative agreement, NIOSH seeks to strengthen occupational safety and health surveillance capacity within states and other jurisdictions that will provide information that help drive actions to improve the health of workers in the United States.

The State Occupational Safety and Health Surveillance Program helps support states and other jurisdictions assess the extent and severity of workplace illnesses, injuries, exposures, and fatalities to identify workers and occupations at greatest risk. State program recipients use this information to establish program priorities and address new and emerging issues, develop intervention and prevention programs, and evaluate the impact of these actions.

“These 22 state surveillance programs will continue to strengthen our understanding of the types of health hazards workers face at work,” said NIOSH Director John Howard, M.D. “Knowledge gained from these state surveillance programs will help guide our future research directions to reduce work-related injuries and illnesses and make workplaces safer.”

The program’s new funding cycle includes 22 awards, funded from 2021-2026, to support occupational safety and health surveillance. The awards encompass 37 surveillance projects that include topics such as respiratory diseases, pesticides poisonings, worker fatalities, opioids, heat-related illnesses, infectious diseases, motor vehicle injuries, and healthcare workers. One new state, Pennsylvania, joins 21 previously funded states.

Thirteen state health departments, two state Departments of Labor, and seven bona fide agents, which involve partnerships between state health departments and universities, will manage the 22 state surveillance programs. These states contain about 64% of the civilian labor force and include 18 of the 29 most populated states in the United States.

The 22 recipients of these awards are:

• Public Health Institute (California)
• Connecticut State Department of Public Health
• Georgia Department of Public Health
• University of Kentucky
• University of Illinois at Chicago
• Louisiana Department of Health
• Maryland Department of Health
• Massachusetts Department of Public Health
• Michigan State University
• Minnesota Department of Health
• Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services
• Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services
• University of New Hampshire
• New Jersey Department of Health
• New Mexico Department of Health
• Health Research, Incorporated (New York)
• North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
• Oregon Health and Science University
• Pennsylvania Department of Health
• Texas Department of State Health Services
• Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Wisconsin Department of Health Services

For more than 40 years, NIOSH has recognized the key importance of state public health approaches to addressing occupational health problems and began funding pilot surveillance programs in a limited number of state health departments in the 1970s. NIOSH has used cooperative agreements to fund state surveillance programs since 2000.

Next Receipt Dates for the State Occupational Safety and Health Surveillance Program

For those interested in applying for the State Occupational Safety and Health Surveillance Program, the next receipt date for applications is September 14, 2022 by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The Funding Opportunity Announcement for the State Surveillance Program can be found on the Grants.gov websiteexternal icon. Visit the NIOSH Extramural Research and Training Programs page for more information on funding opportunities.

About the NIOSH Intramural Surveillance Program

The goals of the NIOSH Surveillance Program include: (1) tracking diseases, injuries, and workplace exposures for further study; (2) identifying new and emerging problems in the workplace; (3) providing evidence used to direct intervention and prevention activities; and (4) monitoring the overall impact of occupational health research. To accomplish these goals, NIOSH partners with local and state health departments, federal agencies, universities, public health practitioners, and private industries.

Intramural surveillance research within NIOSH addresses multiple topics of workplace safety and health. To learn more about NIOSH’s intramural surveillance program initiatives, resources, and data used to complete studies, visit: www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/surveillance/.

NIOSH is the federal institute that conducts research and makes recommendations for preventing work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths. Find more information about NIOSH at www.cdc.gov/niosh.