In a recent article in Public HealthReports, the U.S. Surgeon General, Vice Admiral (VADM) Jerome Adams, MD, MPH, recognizes the important relationship between employment and health. The article, “The Value of Worker Well-being,” also highlights the efforts of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the NIOSH Office of Total Worker Health®, the NIOSH-funded Total Worker Health (TWH) Centers of Excellence, and NIOSH TWH affiliates.
The U.S. Surgeon General recommends that employers and companies ensure that worker well-being programs are implemented more broadly and meet the needs of workers, which will lead to better health and business outcomes. To accomplish these goals, NIOSH recommends a TWH approach, which is defined as policies, programs, and practices that integrate protection from work-related safety and health hazards with promotion of injury and illness prevention efforts to advance worker well-being. A TWH approach recognizes that work is a social determinant of health and is consistent with recommendations of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and the American Industrial Hygiene Association.