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The NIOSH Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities Program has developed strategic goals to guide our research and partnership efforts.
NIOSH previously used priority topic areas (e.g., traumatic injury, hearing loss) to guide research efforts. Goals take this approach a step further by identifying specific outcomes that NIOSH wants to target, performance measures for evaluating progress in meeting the outcome goals, and intermediate goals to describe the necessary steps that need to be performed to accomplish the goal. Setting goals is challenging for the following reasons:
- Goal-setting forces us to focus on a subgroup of issues on which we believe NIOSH can have an impact. A long list would spread our resources too thin to accomplish the goals, so not every worthwhile topic can be included.
- Performance measures are difficult to develop. Available injury statistics have limitations, and exposure and health outcome measures are typically not available.
- Setting goals to achieve outcomes (such as reductions in the national fatality rate) is ambitious for NIOSH. Since NIOSH is a research agency, it does not often directly influence outcomes: We must partner well and influence other groups to show results.
The NIOSH Wholesale and Retail Trade Program is in the process of developing strategic goals to guide our research and partnership efforts over the next decade.
NIOSH previously used priority topic areas (e.g., traumatic injury, hearing loss) to guide research efforts. Goals take this approach a step further by identifying specific outcomes that NIOSH wants to target, performance measures for evaluating progress in meeting the outcome goals, and intermediate goals to describe the necessary steps that need to be performed to accomplish the goal. Setting goals is challenging for the following reasons:
- It forces NIOSH to focus on a subgroup of issues where we think NIOSH can make an impact-a long list would spread NIOSH resources too thin to accomplish the goals. Not every worthwhile topic can be included.
- It is difficult to develop performance measures. Available injury statistics have limitations, and exposure and health outcome measures are typically not available.
- It is ambitious for NIOSH to set goals to achieve outcomes such as reductions in a national fatality rate. NIOSH is a research agency, and as such does not directly influence outcomes-NIOSH must partner well and influence other groups to show results.
NIOSH has been organizing research, guidance, information, and service efforts into specific programs that can be readily communicated and strategically governed and evaluated. Ten Sector Programs represent industrial sectors, and twenty-four Cross-sector Programs are organized around adverse health outcomes, statutory programs and global efforts.
The Sector Programs intersect with Cross-Sector Programs in a matrix-like fashion. For example, an Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Program goal of reducing farm-related deaths and injuries due to tractor rollovers and trucks would likely be a shared goal with the Transportation Program and if appropriate would be adopted by both programs. This approach provides an added advantage and will allow multiple Programs to work towards accomplishment of intersecting goals.
Each of the 34 programs in the NIOSH Program Portfolio has a Manager and Coordinator. Each of the 10 NIOSH Sector Programs facilitates the work of a NORA Sector Council to engage external stakeholders in the process of developing sector goals for the nation and methods to measure the short-term, intermediate and long-term outcomes arising from those goals. The NORA goals for the nation will be considered when choosing NIOSH sector program goals. Cross Sector programs have internal Steering Committees that develop program goals and monitor outcome measures.
These planning efforts will position NIOSH to align with the most current governmental approaches for evaluating program effectiveness, i.e., the Program Assessment Rating Tool (or PART). PART is a mechanism to hold governmental agencies accountable for accomplishing results. As part of our comprehensive approach to performance measurement, NIOSH has engaged the National Academies to independently evaluate our sector and cross-programs for relevance and impact.
The NORA Public Safety Sub-Sector includes corrections, emergency medical services, fire fighting and law enforcement.
The NORA Public Safety Council produced the National Public Safety Agenda to address occupational safety and health issues for public safety workers after evaluation of surveillance data, expert and practitioner input and public comments. The NORA Public Safety Sector included over 3.5 million employees and volunteers in 2011.
On any given day, public safety workers may respond to emergency calls including criminal acts, structural fires, and traumatic injuries. In some cases, they enter uncontrolled environments to rescue potential victims. These duties increase their risks for traumatic injuries and fatalities and place them in contact with biological, chemical, physical and psychosocial hazards that are associated with cardiovascular disease, cancer and other chronic disorders.
Over 30 stakeholders from throughout the United States developed a series of goals relating to wildland fire fighting. The Council added these goals in this revision. Comments on the Agenda are always welcome; they will be considered in future updates. Information on wildland fire fighting is of particular interest to the Council.
The RDRP mission is to provide national and international leadership for the prevention of work-related respiratory diseases. RDRP uses a scientific approach to gather and synthesize information, create knowledge, provide recommendations, and deliver products and services to those who can effect prevention.
