Keynote 1: Expanding our focus: from what, to what?

Description: NIOSH, the WHO, the ILO, and others have called attention to the need for a comprehensive approach to occupational safety and health (OSH) which is not limited to identifying and reducing specific hazards. Concepts such as Total Worker Health®, Decent Work, and Sustainable Development all envision a positive state of affairs that requires political and social will to prioritize the well-being of the workforce and our environment, broadly defined.  This session will summarize some of the hazards of evolving work organization and technology; describe some needs for evidence and potential approaches for intervention research; and identify social partners to be cultivated in an effort to engage society toward the goal of healthy and sustainable work. 

Learning Objectives: At the end of this session, participants will be able to: (1) explain some of the impacts on health, safety, and wellbeing of evolving work organization and technology; (2) explain the societal-level obstacles to healthy work; (3) for OSH service providers, explain the impacts of these obstacles on their patients and clients, and identify the broader social networks that need to be engaged for positive patient outcomes; (4) appraise the types of evidence that might be useful in efforts to remove those obstacles; (5) appraise and utilize potential strategies for strengthening our research methods and research-to-practice translation, the OSH movement, and potential partners outside the OSH field to meet these challenges.