Total Worker Health® in a Nutshell

The National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) coined the term Total Worker Health^® as an evolution of its strategy to promote a healthier U.S. workforce. In short, Total Worker Health^® (TWH) is a systems-level strategy to protect workers’ health and enhance well-being by looking more broadly at the conditions of work and how to address issues that adversely impact worker health. 

TWH is defined as policies, programs, and practices that integrate protection from work-related safety and health hazards with the promotion of injury and illness-prevention efforts to advance worker well-being. The TWH approach seeks to improve the well-being of the U.S. workforce by protecting their safety and enhancing their health and productivity. Using TWH strategies benefits workers, employers, and the community. 

Supporting healthier workplaces

The TWH approach supports the growth of effective health and safety programs by proposing an integrated strategy to address both mental and physical health at work. This idea is supported by extensive research on how various working conditions influence health, well-being, and productivity, and on the recognition that work is a social determinant of health. Beyond traditional worker exposures to various workplace hazards, research shows the influence of psychosocial and organizational hazards such as job demands and pressures, degree of autonomy and flexibility, quality of interactions with supervisors and coworkers, frequency of shiftwork, and length of the workday. This broadscale prevention approach prioritizes a hazard-free work environment for all workers with intentional and meaningful collaborations that can result in healthier workplaces.