NIOSH and State Occupational Health Partners' Meeting

BACKGROUND:  NIOSH and states involved in the state occupational health surveillance cooperative agreements meet semi-annually to exchange information and knowledge necessary to coordinate, integrate, and strengthen federal and state occupational health (OH) surveillance programs and attain outcomes. The annual meeting of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists serves as a venue for one of these meetings.  

METHODS: The purpose of this meeting is to convene NIOSH and state OH surveillance professionals to a) increase occupational safety and health program capacity and performance in the U.S by: strengthening scientific, technical and communication capabilities including data management c) coordinating federal and state OH surveillance activities and priorities, d) supporting methods and practices for generating and disseminating OH Indicators, project-specific/priority focus area (PFA) data and/or emerging issues and  e) fostering effective communication for the protection of workers in the U.S.    

RESULTS:  This meeting will include NIOSH surveillance research program updates including: use of BRFSS survey data that includes the Industry/Occupation I/O module; development and calculation of Occupational Health Indicators; activities of the Center for Workers Compensation Studies; coordination/collaboration with other CDC programs; and regional and national meeting planning.

CONCLUSIONS: This session serves as a national meeting of state OH surveillance programs and facilitates ongoing collaborative and coordinating efforts between NIOSH and state OH surveillance partners. All state, tribal and territorial program staff conducting occupational and/or injury health surveillance or intervention activities can contribute meaningfully to this meeting.  States and other entities conducting OH activities, who are not currently NIOSH cooperative agreement (institutional) recipients, are also encouraged to participate in this session.