Throughout its 34 years as the Nation’s primary research agency for worker safety and health, NIOSH has played a vital role in improving safety and health in the workplace. However, much remains to be done, and new challenges are always on the horizon. Without question, this is the case with the emerging technologies.
Since its inception, NIOSH has been committed to understanding and preventing hazards arising from emerging technologies. In the 1970s, NIOSH investigated issues related to emerging technologies including X-ray use at airports, new glues used in construction, new plasticizers and chemical additives used in manufacturing, and radiation and ergonomic issues related to the use of video display terminals in offices. In the 1980s, NIOSH investigated the injury hazards of robots, the biohazards related to the care of patients with emerging infectious diseases, increased dust exposure related to the longwall mining technology, and the indoor air contamination related to tight building technology. In the 1990s, NIOSH launched studies of the potential hazards with electromagnetic radiation and falls from elevations relative to erecting and maintaining communication towers, of new fiber manufacturing technology, and the consequences of potential skin and
respiratory exposures during the manufacture of new drugs.
Emerging technologies offer challenges and opportunities with regard to worker safety and health. This entails a shift from retrospective analysis to a prospective analysis. Anticipation of risk and benefits is part of this new perspective as is the need to rethink the design process for technologies and their production, use, distribution, and disposal. In addition, a knowledge driven focus aimed at designs that eliminate hazards from
emerging technologies, as well as encouraging technologies that are inherently safer, is needed.
In 1996, the National Occupational Research Agenda recognized emerging technologies as one of 21 priority research topics for the next decade, and a multidisciplinary team of researchers and practitioners from government, industry, labor, and academia was assembled to craft the research agenda presented in this report. Moreover, the first emerging technology to be addressed using the systematic approach proposed in this report is applications of nanotechnology, which is consistent with the National Nanotechnology Initiative Strategic
Plan published in December of 2004.
We are confident that these measures will serve to energize urgently needed research on safety and health in the changing workplace. I commend to you the present report—not as a final definitive statement on research needs, but as a framework for a national agenda to elevate emerging technologies research to a higher priority in occupational safety and health, to provide guideposts for research direction, and to develop partnerships in
support of these pursuits.
John Howard, M.D.
Director
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Abstract
Changes in technologies have far outpaced our knowledge about the implications of these changes for the quality of working life and for safety and health on the job. This gap in knowledge is one of the 21 priority areas for research under the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA)—a framework crafted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and its partners to guide research into the next decade. This report was developed under NORA as a foundation for a comprehensive research agenda for investigating and reducing occupational safety and health risks as well as intervention opportunities associated with emerging technologies. Research and development needs identified in the agenda include (1) improved surveillance mechanisms to better track the emergence of technology, (2) accelerated research on safety and health implications of emerging technology, (3) increased research focus on protecting and promoting safety and health in emerging technology fields, and (4) steps to formalize and nurture emerging technology as a distinct field within occupational safety and health.
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