Author Description

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the Federal agency responsible for occupational safety and health research. In collaboration with its many partners, NIOSH is committed to the collection, analysis, dissemination, and use of data describing the prevalence of disease and health risk factors among workers in the United States. The National Academies has urged greater use of injury and illness data at the national level to identify priorities, focus resources, and evaluate prevention program effectiveness. The Occupational Research Group at the University of Miami is illustrative of an extramural partnership which complements NIOSH intramural programs of surveillance and research. Using population health data collected through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), they have successfully undertaken a broadly based research program that describes employed worker's disability, disease, health care access, health behaviors and mortality among occupational groups and industry sectors. With the second decade of NORA, NIOSH is developing strategies and programs to better move research to practice within workplaces, using an industry sector-based approach to define high priority needs. The Occupational Research Group at the University of Miami has since completed extensive analyses describing the prevalence of disability, morbidity, mortality, and injury & disease burden among workers employed within the eight NORA sector groups identified in 2006: Agriculture, forestry and Fishing; Mining; Construction; Manufacturing; Wholesale and Retail Trade; Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities; Services; and Healthcare and Social Assistance. This report is one of a series of reports developed to describe the prevalence of disability and morbidity among current workers within these eight sectors. Survey data from the years 1997-2007 were used to describe the five aspects of worker's hea