The workplace, where most people spend many of their waking hours, can be a hazardous place. Despite the continued decline in the reported numbers of occupational injuries, 4.1 million workers sustained work-related injuries in 2003 in the private sector alone.¹ During the same year, an average of 15 workers died from work-related injuries each day.²

A single, comprehensive, national system for reporting work-related chronic disease does not exist. Therefore, several data sources and published studies are used to estimate the magnitude of occupational disease. Although they are likely to underestimate the true burden of occupational illnesses, these combined sources indicate that approximately 49,000 to 67,000 workers die each year from such illnesses.^{3, 4}

Work-related injury and illness also take an enormous economic toll on employers, workers and their families, and society overall. For example, employers in private industry alone spent $50.8 billion in 2003 on wage payments and medical care for workers who missed 6 or more days from work as a result of getting hurt on the job.⁵

To provide a framework to foster occupational safety and health research, the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) was created in 1996 by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), in partnership with more than 500 public and private organizations and individuals.⁶ The NORA process has resulted in consensus on the top 21 occupational research priorities for the Nation, including traumatic injuries, musculoskeletal disorders, allergic and irritant dermatitis, hearing loss, and organization of work. Significant commonalities exist between NORA research priority areas and the Healthy People 2010 objectives. NORA has therefore been serving as a catalyst for moving the Nation toward the targets.

NORA is preparing to use a sector-based approach to better guide research to practice within workplaces. The sectors are based on the North American Industry Classification System,⁷ which replaced the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification system and which enables the comparison of statistics throughout North America. The 20 sectors are categorized into 8 groups with similar occupational safety and health issues.⁸ NIOSH and its partners will form eight Sector Research Councils in agriculture, forestry, and fishing; construction; health care and social assistance; manufacturing; mining; services; transportation, warehousing, and utilities; and wholesale and retail trade.⁸ A ninth group, the Cross-Sector Research Council, will address research needs affecting multiple sectors.⁸ With members from industry, labor, academia, government, and professional and trade associations, each council will identify priorities that will guide actions to promote safe and healthy workplaces.

Steps to a HealthierUS Workforce has been introduced to encourage workplace health programs that focus on both personal and workplace risk factors.⁹ Launched in 2004, the initiative is the first of its kind to unite researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and industry and labor leaders with the goal of protecting workers, promoting individual workers' health, and improving working conditions.

Another initiative, called Research to Practice (r2p), aims to further reduce illness and injury by increasing workplace use of effective NIOSH and NIOSH-funded research findings.¹⁰ Through NIOSH, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) continues to work with partners to develop effective products, translate research findings into practice, target dissemination efforts, and evaluate and demonstrate their effectiveness.¹¹