Over the past decade, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) has worked in collaboration with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) towards the goal of increasing state- based occupational health surveillance capacity. A long-term goal of the CSTE Occupational Health Subcommittee is to build, in collaboration with NIOSH, minimum capacity for the surveillance of work-related injuries and illnesses at the state level. The Western States Occupational Network (WestON) meeting convenes state-based occupational health epidemiologists and scientists from 19 western states, NIOSH and OSHA federal partners, and the NIOSH-funded Education and Research Centers (ERCs) and Agricultural Research Centers located in the western states. The overall goal of this meeting is to strengthen state-based occupational epidemiology in the Western region through capacity building and scientific collaboration, including the ongoing surveillance of work-related injuries and diseases, investigation of cases and outbreaks, and dissemination of information for public health prevention. The WestON meeting aligns with several NIOSH NORA Sector and Cross-Sector Program goals, including Agricultural, Forestry and Fishing (AFF); Mining; Oil and Gas Extraction; Health Hazard Evaluation; and Surveillance. The goals within these Sectors are designed to guide research and research-to-practice through 2016, and are achieved through strong involvement of partners and stakeholders throughout the entire research continuum (conceiving, planning, conducting, translating, disseminating and evaluating research). The WestON meeting has presented topics for discussion and analysis and provided opportunities for collaborations among State-based epidemiologists, academic partners from the ERC/Agricultural Centers, and NIOSH scientists. At its core, the overarching goal of the WestON meeting is to engage a crucial set of NIOSH stakeholders (State occupational health programs) towards the NORA goal of translating and disseminating research findings. As such, CSTE seeks five-year funding to continue the WestON meeting from 2016 through 2020. WestON meetings will continue to be co- sponsored by the Mountain and Plains Education and Research Center (MAP ERC) and the NIOSH Western States Division. CSTE is requesting travel funding for participants who would not otherwise have the opportunity to attend the WestON meeting due to lack of funding within their state. The WestON meeting provides a unique opportunity for this group of professionals to meet and address common workplace safety and health issues and to further develop collaborations and partnerships to enhance state-based epidemiology, surveillance and prevention of work-related injuries and illnesses.
The overall goal of the Western States Occupational Network (WestON) meeting is to strengthen state-based occupational epidemiology in the Western region through capacity building and scientific collaboration, including the ongoing surveillance of work-related injuries and diseases, investigation of cases and outbreaks, and dissemination of information for public health prevention. The WestON meeting aligns with several NIOSH NORA Sector and Cross-Sector Program goals, including Agricultural, Forestry and Fishing (AFF); Mining; Oil and Gas Extraction; Health Hazard Evaluation; and Surveillance.
