Chronic disease: NIOSH's focus must be on occupational exposures that cause and contribute to chronic disease and ill health

NIOSH’s long-term vision for its Total Worker Health program is an integration of occupational safety and health protection with health promotion programs in the workplace. Health promotion programs include those aimed at improving healthy behaviors such as tobacco use cessation, increased physical activity, and improved nutrition. However, occupational exposures place workers at increased risk for tobacco use, poor nutrition, lack of exercise and other risk factors for ill health. It has been estimated that 50,000 to 60,000 workers in the United States die each year from occupational disease, including cancer and cardiovascular disease. Further, the 2002 NIOSH publication written by the National Occupational Research Agenda workgroup, "The Changing Organization of Work and the Safety and Health of Working People," reported on a growing body of literature documenting adverse health and safety impacts from changes in work organization such as lean production, downsizing and extended working hours. Given NIOSH's statutory authority, and given the epidemic of occupational illness and death from chronic work-related disease, this presentation will assess the critical need for NIOSH to expend its limited resources on assisting with the elimination and reduction of occupational exposures that contribute to workers' ill health and harm their well-being.