The Oregon Healthy Workforce Center was recognized along with eight other individuals and groups with an Oregon GOSH award today. Nominated organizations and individuals are Oregon workplaces and safety and health advocates who make extraordinary contributions to workplace safety and health. The OHWC is greatly honored to receive the Safety and Health Advocate Team Award in recognition of our intervention research, successful research partnerships and outcomes, and education and outreach in Total Worker Health®. The Oregon Governor’s Occupational Safety and Health (GOSH) Conference occurs every other spring in Portland and is the largest safety and health conference in the Pacific Northwest.
Funded in 2011, the Oregon Healthy Workforce Center (OHWC) is a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Center of Excellence in Total Worker Health® (TWH). The Center brings in federal funding of $800K to $1.2M per year and applies that to research, outreach and education, primarily in Oregon.
The Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences (the “Institute”) at OHSU is the lead organization and home of the OHWC, and they partner through funding research, outreach and education, with fellow institutions including Portland State University, the Labor Education & Research Center at the University of Oregon, University of Washington, Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research, and Johns Hopkins University. Funding is thus distributed to these organizations to support their participation, chiefly in the research. The Center also partners with other organizations on a non-funded basis, to recruit companies to participate in the research and to expand the audience for their outreach and education. The two partners they engage with most frequently and extensively are SAIF and OR OSHA.
The Institute and the OHWC congratulate other award winners including:
- Association Category: Oregon Trucking Associations, Inc.
- Safety and Health Advocate (Individual): Scott Simmons
- Safety and Health Advocate (Team): Samaritan Health Services Employee Health & Safety Team
- Safety and Health Professionals: Kiley Ross; and Lisa Simmons
- Safety Committees: Diamond Fruit Growers, Inc; and Fortis Construction, Inc.
- Workplace Safety Program: Deschutes Brewery
A big thank you to the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) Columbia-Willamette Chapter, Oregon OSHA and all of the many participants, presenters and volunteers.
Learn more about the Oregon Healthy Workforce Center and NIOSH’s Total Worker Health® Program.
