What is Total Worker Health®?
Total Worker Health® is defined as policies, programs, and practices that integrate protection from work-related safety and health hazards with promotion of injury and illness-prevention efforts to advance worker well-being. The Total Worker Health (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.
On this page, you'll find long and short-form introductions to TWH, including a textbook, some short videos, and other materials that offer guidance on TWH essentials. You'll also find case studies and research findings that demonstrate the return on investment offered by TWH.
Featured Resources
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The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) offers a brief introduction to TWH on this page. This page also offers a starting point for TWH-related resources, including the evidence base for TWH, how TWH can benefit employers and communities, and the history of TWH. For more in-depth information, employers can consult the Fundamentals of TWH Approaches, a workbook designed to help employers develop new TWH initiatives or to align existing workplace health programs with TWH.
Want something you can listen to on the go? Check out What's Work Got to Do with Total Worker Health®? This 25-minute podcast from the Oregon Healthy Workforce Center features guest Dr. Casey Chosewood, the director of the TWH program at NIOSH. The podcast overviews TWH and explains how this holistic approach to worker safety addresses both occupational safety and health and employee well-being. The podcast can be streamed free on SoundCloud. Prefer something in writing? The interview transcript is also available.
The Healthier Workforce Center of the Midwest offers short and sweet (4-5 minute) videos that introduce TWH essentials. Available videos include the following:
- Introduction to TWH: This video offers a brief overview of the TWH approach for interested stakeholders who have little time to explore written resources.
- Return on Investment: Employers describe how the TWH approach has led to happier, healthier, and more productive workers.
- Low-Cost Solutions: Employers share easy, low-cost tips to get started with a TWH program in the workplace.
Your Workpath: Why TWH? from the Oregon Healthy Workforce Center provides easy, comprehensive introduction to TWH, and is part of a larger one-stop shop for safety, health, and well-being tools and toolkits for the workplace.
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Helping People Grow: Putting people first with HealthLinks™ and White Construction Group (WCG). This case study describes how the Center for Health, Work, and the Environment (CHWE) worked with White Construction Group, a full-service general contractor, to help them put their people first and revamp the company's culture of health and safety. Read about how employee engagement through surveys and worksite assessments helped WCG prioritize mental health education and resources for their employees.
Findings from the Small + Safe + Well (SSWell) study from CHWE demonstrate the importance of TWH policies, programs, and practices in small businesses and led to the development of TWH Leadership Programs. Their published peer-reviewed article describes the program in detail and explains how CHWE researchers engaged small business owners and managers.
Other Resources
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Improving the Conditions of Work: What Impacts Worker Health? This 57-minute webinar focuses on small and mid-size businesses in discussion of integrated approaches for worker safety and well-being.
Integrating Well-Being and Work is a 45-minute webinar from CHWE introduces TWH and its applications as well as current workplace issues and fundamentals of TWH.
Innovations in Worker Safety, Health, and Well-Being: Applications from TWH. This 54-minute webinar describes pathways from working conditions to health and safety outcomes using a conceptual framework and describes strategies for improving worker safety, health, and well-being using a management systems approach.
