The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of the USA is unveiling the Steps to a Healthier US Workforce initiative to encourage workplace safety and health programs. The vision of this initiative is to integrate occupational safety and health protection with health promotion activities into a coordinated system that addresses both workplace and worker health.

This initiative supports the view that all illness and injury should be prevented when possible, controlled when necessary, and treated where appropriate.

NIOSH will convene a three-day Symposium to launch the new initiative. The symposium will be held George Washington University in Washington, DC, on 26-28 October. The idea is to bring together the health promotion and occupational safety and health communities in a combined effort to highlight common interests and develop mutually supportive strategies for research and practice to improve worker health, safety, and well-being.