Request for Comments and Resource Materials
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is requesting public comment on a new resource document intended to facilitate the development of workplace programs, policies, and practices to sustain and improve workforce health: The Essential Elements of Effective Workplace Programs and Policies for Improving Worker Health and Wellbeing. The development and dissemination of these Elements as a useful tool is a key effort of the NIOSH WorkLife Initiative.
The premise of the NIOSH WorkLife Initiative, based on scientific research to date and practical experience in the field, is that comprehensive practices and policies that take into account the work environment—physical and organizational—and also address the personal health-related choices of individuals are more effective in preventing disease and injury and promoting health and safety than each approach independently.
You may view additional information about the NIOSH WorkLife Initiative and the recent symposium WorkLife 2007: Protecting and Promoting Worker Health at the NIOSH WorkLife Initiative web site http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/worklife/.
Based on information received from experts and practitioners with experience in industry, academia, labor, government, and the non-profit sector, NIOSH developed a list of twenty proposed Essential Elements of Effective Workplace Programs and Policies for Improving Worker Health and Wellbeing. The purpose of creating this list is to make available to employers and employer-employee partnerships a resource for guiding their efforts to adopt programs and policies that support and encourage comprehensive approaches to worker safety and health.
NIOSH has established a public docket for this list of candidate elements and is requesting input from the public, including experts and interested individuals, both to comment on the elements and to supply resource information that will help provide further guidance and direction for those wishing to implement them.
In particular, and in addition to seeking comment on the draft Essential Elements, NIOSH requests your input into the docket of examples, illustrations, and information that support the individual elements, including: web links to resource materials; articles from the academic and business literature; and anecdotes and case studies that will help to make this list a practical, detailed, and user-friendly “how-to” resource for those ready to put the Essential Elements into practice. NIOSH will link some of these resources and case information as attachments to the Essential Elements.
The draft document for review and comment is available here:
Time Frame for Review
Written comments on the document and resource information will be accepted through March 19, 2008 in accordance with the instructions below. All material submitted to NIOSH should reference docket number NIOSH-132. All electronic comments should be formatted as Microsoft Word and make reference to docket number NIOSH-132.
Comments will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. ET on March 19, 2008
To submit comments regarding this draft publication, please use
one of these options:
- Send comments by email.
- Fax comments to the NIOSH Docket Office: 513-533-8285
- Send by Mail to:
NIOSH Mailstop: C-34
Robert A. Taft Lab.
4676 Columbia Parkway
Cincinnati, Ohio 45226
NIOSH Draft Documents for Public Review
| 
