University of Massachusetts Lowell NIOSH TPG Final Report

Details

• Personal Author:
  Kriebel D
• Description:
  The Department of Work Environment (DWE), established in the fall of 1987, offers the Master of Science (MS) and Doctor of Science (ScD) degrees in: a) occupational and environmental hygiene-industrial hygiene, b) occupational safety/ergonomics, c) occupational epidemiology, and d) work environment policy. A fifth graduate program within the DWE, "Cleaner Production/Pollution Prevention," not supported by the NIOSH TPG (to date), educates students in the technical and social aspects of sustainable production. The name Work Environment was chosen to reflect the Department's commitment to addressing all aspects of the workplace as they contribute to workers' well-being and environmental protection. We take an integrated approach to health and safety as we strive to answer the basic question, "What is the optimal design of the healthy workplace?" It is our belief that specific problems, such as chemical exposures, postural demands, and psychosocial stress are best addressed comprehensively rather than individually. After more than 20 years of teaching, research and service, the feedback we receive from alumni, employers, unions and other partners has consistently stressed the strengths of this integrated approach to all aspects of health and environment at work. The mission of the DWE is to train work environment professionals and conduct research on the identification and evaluation of health and environmental hazards and the design of safe and efficient alternatives, thereby promoting the development of sustainable systems of production. In carrying out this mission, we are guided by an overarching vision of the Department's role: to design and promote systems of production that are environmentally-sound, safe, healthy and rewarding for workers, communities, and consumers. We accomplish this by: Improving and developing new scientific methods to measure health effects and exposures at work and in the environment; Contributing to the design of production systems that are non-polluting, healthy and safe, economically and energy efficient, and non-wasteful of natural resources; and Closing the gap between occupational and environmental health sciences and politics by developing an understanding of the political, social, economic, and regulatory context of the workplace, work organization, and the general environment, nationally and internationally. DWE is situated in the School of Health and Environment, along with departments in community health and health education, nursing, exercise physiology and physical therapy, and clinical laboratory science and nutrition. The Department also has strong ties with the UML College of Engineering, where the Department was housed for its first fifteen years. That affiliation provided our program with a firm rationale for incorporating a focus on prevention through design. It was the conviction of the founding members of our Department that the classic public health approach toward the assessment of occupational exposures needed to be complemented by a strong research and training emphasis on the control of exposures. This orientation has been firmly embedded as the underlying foundation of the entire curriculum and continues to define the character of the department. Despite our move to SHE, there continues to be a strong emphasis on engineering skills in relevant areas of our degree programs and active teaching and research collaboration with UML engineering faculty, much of which involves our students or otherwise impacts their training. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Education Ergonomics Occupational Health Safety Staff Development Workplace
• Keywords:
  Industrial Hygiene Programs Occupational Health Programs Training Grants Work Environment
• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Final Grant Report
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-25
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20057333
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2020-100151
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, T01-OH-008424, 2010 Sep; :1-25
• Contact Point Address:
  David Kriebel, Sc.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Work Environment, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell MA 01854
• Email:
  David_Kriebel@uml.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2010
• Performing Organization:
  University of Massachusetts - Lowell
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8a0f1607655331aae42412cdc8de00fd8a78442937e35d12d1e34be73fde7197c7d99739c0d9505215549508b5a073cdd91027341e14610a9c2bbcbc477165dc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/218931/cdc_218931_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 521.12 KB ]