# California Occupational Safety and Health Surveillance

> **NIH ALLCDC U60** · PUBLIC HEALTH INSTITUTE · 2023 · $705,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The overall purpose of this proposal is to maintain and enhance the capacity of the California occupational
health surveillance program to identify state priorities and guide efforts to improve and protect worker
safety and health; monitor statistical and other trends and progress over time; and develop and distribute
prevention and intervention recommendations. This proposal is submitted as part of an Expanded Program
that includes the enhanced fundamental activities and builds upon that program with three targeted
surveillance, investigation, and prevention efforts for the “legacy” program areas of Occupational
Respiratory Disease, Occupational Pesticide Illness, and Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation. The
California occupational health and safety surveillance program has been approved by the California Health
and Human Services Agency’s Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects (CPHS) and is submitted
as a research proposal that addresses significance, innovation, and approach. Some activities related to
investigation of emerging hazards are determined through CPHS review to be public health practice.
The Occupational Health Branch (OHB) has a long and successful history (since 1987) of working in
collaboration with NIOSH, other state occupational health programs, and partners within California to
promote worker health and safety through our public health prevention efforts. An important programmatic
objective is to ensure that its surveillance and intervention activities are integrated within the prevention
activities of both OHB and the broader public health infrastructure in California, including other CDPH
programs, other state and local public health agencies, Cal/OSHA, academic institutions, the workers’
compensation system, and organizations representing workers, employers, and health professionals. In
addition, the activities are based on the premise of research to practice – of completing the surveillance
loop by translating findings from surveillance data analyses, case ascertainment, and field investigations
into practical interventions, prevention strategies, and policy recommendations; tailoring prevention
messages to each target audience using stakeholder input during product development; gathering
evaluation feedback to ensure that the guidance is useful; and continually improving the program’s
performance and effectiveness. The successful implementation of this program is aimed at reducing the
burden of occupational illness and injury in California by providing outputs, including presentations, web-
based resources, educational materials, and journal articles, that are easily usable by stakeholders for
implementing workplace improvements and policy changes. Projected intermediate and end outcomes
include changes in work practices and reductions in worker exposures at workplaces that adopt the
recommendations for interventions and prevention strategies.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10691365
- **Project number:** 5U60OH008468-18
- **Recipient organization:** PUBLIC HEALTH INSTITUTE
- **Principal Investigator:** Robert J Harrison
- **Activity code:** U60 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $705,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-07-01 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10691365

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10691365, California Occupational Safety and Health Surveillance (5U60OH008468-18). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10691365. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*