Oregon Total Worker Health® Alliance

Representatives of the Oregon Total Worker Health® organizations (Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences (including Oregon Healthy Workforce Center), Oregon OSHA, and SAIF) gather for signing of the Alliance agreement in February 2017. NIOSH Total Worker Health Program Manager Casey Chosewood is in attendance, as are the three organization signees Steven Shea, Chuck Easterly, and Michael Wood.

What is the Oregon Total Worker Health® Alliance?

The Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences (including the Oregon Healthy Workforce Center), Oregon OSHA and SAIF Corporation signed the first state-wide Alliance we are aware of to expand the knowledge and application of Total Worker Health® principles by leveraging the strengths of three state-based organizations. What we consider to be unique in this alliance, is forging partnership between Oregon's state OSHA, Oregon's not-for-profit, state-chartered workers' compensation insurance company, and an Oregon-based academic research institute. The Oregon Healthy Workforce Center, a NIOSH-funded Total Worker Health Center of Excellence, is housed within the Institute. Needless to say, we are excited and very pleased to have such strong partners who support the mission of Total Worker Health.

Signing the document was just the beginning. Prior to the signing, these three partners have collaborated on many issues and initiatives impacting occupational safety, health and well-being. Since the signing, however, we are specifically targeting how we can work together to move the needle in Oregon to improve health, safety and well-being for all workers, utilizing concepts, evidence and data related to Total Worker Health principles, and in creating a training curriculum.

Currently, the most active initiative involving the Alliance has been the development of the Oregon Total Worker Health Alliance training curriculum. The training is designed for occupational safety and health, worker compensation, and human resource practitioners and professions.

Total Worker Health Curriculum

Curriculum modules and classes developed to date include the following courses. See our new Curriculum Infographic. Visit our Training and Symposium page for upcoming opportunities.

1. Total Worker Health 101: The Basics. This 3 hour virtual or live class is the prerequisite course within the curriculum. Download course description. Additional modules will augment and broaden knowledge and skill sets within the TWH discipline, and evolve as informed by research and practice. The purpose of the Oregon Total Worker Health Alliance curriculum is to create and provide consistent and reproducible training that is research-based and supports current practice. Materials used include the “Fundamentals of Total Worker Health^® Approaches: Essential elements for advancing worker safety, health, and well-being.” (CDC/NIOSH Dec. 2016). Graduates of this course are invited to virtual quarterly meet ups. The objectives of this half-day class are to:

Define terms and concepts essential to TWH
Identify the five defining elements of TWH
Discuss how organizations can effectively implement TWH
Develop “next steps” applicable to participant’s organization

2. Total Worker Health Awareness: What Should OSH Professionals Know? This 45-60 minute virtual or live session introduces occupational health professionals, occupational health nurses, human resource professionals, wellness professionals and others interested to Total Worker Health. This shorter session may precede TWH 101: The Basics but as a "teaser."

3. Total Worker Health Workplace Solutions. This 3 hour virtual or live class can be combined with TWH 101: The Basics for a full day course (e.g., AIHce 2021, 2022). This module includes the following course objectives:

Identify evidence-based Total Worker Health Worksite solutions, case studies, and tools
Describe strategies for workplace engagement and evaluation of solutions and interventions
Develop "next steps" related to these solutions, as applicable to participant's organization

4. Total Worker Health Sleep, Fatigue and Shiftwork. This ~ 90 minute virtual or live module can be presented together with TWH 101: The Basics or as a standalone course. This module includes the following course objectives:

Recap the 5 key elements of Total Worker Health
Examine health and safety evidence showing the need for organizations to be concerned about worker short sleep and fatigue
Understand how work scheduling, culture and shift work negatively impact employees’ sleep
Discuss how the concept of Total Worker Health can help organizations create strategies and initiatives to lessen worker fatigue, address causes of poor and low sleep, and improve health
Develop “next steps” applicable to participant’s organization

5. Train-the-Trainer Course for Total Worker Health 101: The Basics. This virtual (2 hours x 4 (required) sessions) course is limited to 12 participants. This will next be taught on July 10, 17, 21, and 31, 2023. See flyer. Email us for more information.

6. Quarterly Meet Ups. These one hour meet ups are offered virtually to all graduates of the Total Worker Health 101 course. These informal networking opportunities include updates about new resources from NIOSH, the OHWC and other TWH Centers of Excellence, and TWH Affilliates including SAIF. Participants are encouraged to share organizational successes and challenges.

Upcoming Education

Oregon TWH Alliance courses have been taught widely live during conferences and professional society meetings throughout Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, and virtually to many throughout the U.S. and beyond. Visit our Training and Symposium page for additional upcoming opportunities. Let us know if you are interested in scheduling a class, or attending a course that is currently scheduled.

Upcoming courses include:

TWH 101 Train the Trainer (limited to 12 and instructor approval), virtual, July 10, 17, 24, and 31 2023. Register to attend.

Are you interested in learning more about the Oregon Total Worker Health Alliance training and curriculum? Contact us.

Total Worker Health® Case Studies

The Oregon Healthy Workforce Center and Oregon Total Worker Health Alliance appreciate our partners committed to the concept of Total Worker Health and for sharing their experiences and stories. The following case studies have been developed using information provided and approved by the organization listed, and are intended to be used in education and training about Total Worker Health.

TWH Case Study #1: Bend, OR Police Department (updated 8/21/2020)
TWH Case Study #2: City of Eugene, OR (updated 8/21/2020)
TWH Case Study #3: City of Portland Water Bureau and Portland Bureau of Transportation (updated 12/14/20)

TWH 101 Nov 2018 — TWH Alliance members Dede Montgomery (Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences) and Liz Hill (SAIF) teach Total Worker Health 101 at the 2018 Pulp, Paper, and Forest Products OSH Conference.

Partners and Contacts

Access Oregon OSHA's Total Worker Health webpage.

Learn more about Total Worker Health at SAIF.