NIOSH has established surveillance programs intended to assess the extent and severity of workplace illnesses, injuries, exposures, and fatalities; identify workers and occupations at greatest risk; set program priorities for follow-up activities, including more in-depth data surveillance and outreach, prevention and/ or intervention programs and policies to address state priorities and emerging issues; develop a broad network of partners who can assist in identifying occupational safety and health (OSH) surveillance data and best ways to disseminate results to stakeholders; communicate audience-specific educational materials and other resources for optimizing their uptake and adoption for protecting workers; and measure the effectiveness of prevention activities.
OSH surveillance includes population/group- and case-based approaches and activities. Funded programs are expected to be resourceful and proactive in identifying and accessing untapped data sources for OSH surveillance, which may include creating linkages between data sources.
NIOSH seeks to strengthen OSH surveillance within states and other eligible jurisdictions to provide information that will help drive actions to improve the health of workers in the US. This program will build upon the existing state and local public health capacity and expertise in OSH surveillance, and for states and others where OSH surveillance capacity does not currently exist, this program may help to develop that capacity.