21 Total Worker Health® and critical risk management

Abstract

Global estimates of the work-related burden of disease and injury indicate that each year 1.9 million people die from exposure to occupational risk factors, 81% of these fatalities resulting from non-communicable, occupational diseases. These are underestimates of the burden of occupational exposure and disease. We are not effectively preventing occupational disease and related fatalities through the classical approaches to occupational safety and health and risk management. There is an urgent need for alternate strategies to prevent occupational illness. Total Worker Health® (TWH®), introduced by NIOSH in 2011, offers an approach for consideration that could serve as a model across geographies and sectors to improve worker wellbeing, mitigation of risk, and ultimately, prevention of occupational disease and related fatality. This presentation will include the recent global estimates of non-communicable, occupational disease published by the World Health Organization and International Labour Office in 2021, and a review of the International Council on Mining and Metals’ Critical Control Management (CCM) process. TWH® will be defined and issues related to advancing worker wellbeing will be introduced. The other “Totals” and their relationships to TWH will be explained. The presentation will highlight the challenges in applying the CCM approach to critical risks associated with overexposure to chronic occupational health hazards such as silica and other carcinogens. In these intersecting topic areas, occupational hygienists and other OEHS professionals as exposure scientists can have meaningful input into prevention strategies and programs and improved worker health outcomes. Collaborative opportunities offering sustainable solutions will be introduced and discussed.