The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Williams College of Business of Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio, are partnering under a new Memorandum of Understanding to advance the “business case” for the pivotal role that occupational safety and health consideration plays in corporate strategy and planning.

NIOSH and the Williams College of Business will seek opportunities for “developing an improved understanding of the return on investment in occupational safety and health relating productivity to healthy workers,” the agreement stated. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed Aug. 8, 2008.

“We are pleased to join with our neighbor and partner in Cincinnati, the Williams College of Business at Xavier University,” said NIOSH Acting Director Christine M. Branche, Ph.D. “This is a wonderful opportunity for reaching business leaders, notably America’s emerging generation of new executives and entrepreneurs, with the message that a safe and healthy workplace is a golden asset for a company in today’s increasingly competitive marketplace.”

“Corporate Social Responsibility is an important aspect of our mission,” said Dr. Raghu Tadepalli, Dean of the Graduate School of Business at Xavier. “By partnering with NIOSH, we want to raise the level of awareness in organizations about Health & Safety. Our goal is to train students to view Health & Safety as business investments and to demonstrate the return on investment on them.”

Through the Memorandum of Understanding, NIOSH and Xavier, in partnership with the National Safety Council, are developing a course for MBA students on the “Business Value of Safety and Health,” which is scheduled to be offered in spring 2009. This course will address how business can use occupational safety and health improvements and initiatives for long-term planning, operations management, and other decision-making.

In collaboration with The National Safety Council, the integration of the Robert W. Campbell Award for Safety/Health and Environment Business Case Studies into the class will be utilized. These are real-world cases from multiple industries that have capitalized on the incorporation of occupational safety & health into their respective business models with outstanding results. The National Safety Council also is linking Xavier and NIOSH with other MBA programs with whom the council has been working in developing business case studies.

NIOSH is the federal agency that conducts research and makes recommendations for preventing work-related injuries and illnesses. It was established under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 and has research laboratories in Cincinnati, Ohio; Morgantown, W.Va.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; and Spokane, Wash., as well as offices in Washington, D.C.; Atlanta, Ga.; Anchorage, Alaska; Denver, Colo.; and Boston, Mass. Further information about NIOSH’s research and partnerships can be found at www.cdc.gov/niosh .

Areas in which NIOSH and the Williams College of Business, Xavier University, pledged to work together under the Memorandum of Understanding are these:

• Encouraging the development of sound and effective research by business and economic scholars to investigate the relationship between effective programs to promote workplace safety and health and the associated costs and consequences to the Nation, to employers, and to the American worker,
  
  
• Encouraging development of research that assesses the risks and magnitudes of the burdens imposed on industries, sectors, and national productivity by occupational injury and illness events,
  
  
• Promoting the transfer and workplace implementation of research findings on effective occupational injury prevention strategies and technologies,
  
  
• Participating at public meetings, conferences, and other key events where the assessment, management, and control of occupational safety and health issues are addressed,
  
  
• Developing and disseminating information on occupational safety and health at appropriate conferences and through print and electronic media,
  
  
• Advancing the effectiveness of occupational safety and health research,
  
  
• Additionally, encouraging research that advances the public good and the cause of corporate citizenship through assessment of the various mechanisms by which economic burdens attach to business and public entities, and
  
  
• Encouraging development of research that has the potential for practical impact in accordance with the NIOSH Research to Practice (r2p) research model.