Elsevier

Safety Science

Volume 46, Issue 2, February 2008, Pages 230-233
Safety Science

The public health approach to occupational injury research: From surveillance to prevention

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2007.04.009Get rights and content

Abstract

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in the US uses the public health model as the framework for occupational injury prevention research. This model is described, along with where we have made progress in this research process, and where we need to focus our efforts in the future. The specific role of surveillance in research and prevention of occupational injuries is also discussed, as well as the importance of partnership efforts to facilitate the transfer of research to practice. Suggestions are provided for stimulating a global approach to surveillance and to the transfer of research to practice.

Section snippets

The public health model

The public health model, historically applied to infectious and chronic illness and more recently to injury prevention, is the framework used by NIOSH for occupational injury prevention research. It requires a multi-disciplinary organizational approach to conducting research for prevention, including partnerships with practitioners, industry and labor in the public and private sectors. It has become clear over time that research results alone, even from the best designed and executed studies,

Partnerships

Looking at this overall model, it should be apparent that there are areas that simply cannot be effectively addressed without the participation of people and organizations outside NIOSH, outside government, and outside academia. We would be hard pressed to conduct meaningful surveillance and injury investigations without the participation of the companies involved, and the government agencies within these jurisdictions. Analytic epidemiology often requires the collaboration of industry and

Research to practice

The value of occupational injury research, of course, is putting the results into practice in the workplace. NIOSH is emphasizing this with a new “research-to-practice” or r2p initiative to facilitate the transfer of scientific findings to prevention practice in the workplace. Our research findings are used as support for guidance and regulatory activities; as content for development of information products and training materials; as data to inform policy making and strategic planning; and as

A global approach

There has been substantial progress in occupational injury research in the US in each stage of our research approach. But there are still many needs to address. And many of these needs are not unique to the US but are global needs and priorities for work injury research.

Efforts towards a global approach to prevention will need to begin with a global approach to surveillance. Surveillance is not only the first step in this approach; it is the key driver to efficient and effective research for

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to Herb Linn for his contributions to the conceptualization of this paper. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

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