NIOSH TWH Affiliates

In addition to work done within NIOSH, the NIOSH-funded Centers of Excellence for TWH, and the NIOSH-funded ERCs, TWH activities are shaped by the NIOSH TWH Affiliate program. The Office for TWH established this partnership program in 2014 to recognize not-for-profit, labor, academic, and government organizations that are advancing the TWH approach [28].

The program presently includes 45 NIOSH TWH Affiliates (Figure 4). Though the NIOSH TWH Affiliates do not receive funding from NIOSH, they are critical to all of the activities discussed in this article, each in their own way. The academic NIOSH TWH Affiliates conduct valuable research on systems approaches to worker well-being, organization of work, and workplace exposures and are leaders in the concept of an integrated framework for worker safety and health [28]. Some NIOSH TWH Affiliates provide training to professionals and students in TWH and have been instrumental in research and intervention evaluations in work settings. Several also collaborate with businesses to assess the effectiveness of workplace policies and practices. Labor union NIOSH TWH Affiliates are vital to ensure that worker involvement and outreach are embedded in TWH translation, education, and communication activities. Not-for-profit NIOSH TWH Affiliates are key in sharing TWH messages with local employer organizations and in facilitating regional outreach. The professional association/society NIOSH TWH Affiliates help translate research findings into training materials, share the latest promising practices, and provide continuing education to practitioners. Finally, employer-organization NIOSH TWH Affiliates help implement the TWH approach and, in doing so, provide successful TWH case studies from which other interested employers have learned. Relaying of ongoing NIOSH TWH Affiliate activities and development of collaborative efforts with NIOSH have also taken place during NIOSH TWH Affiliate-specific and other expert colloquia hosted annually by the Office for TWH since 2014.


**Figure 4.** NIOSH *Total Worker Health*® Affiliates.
