HSPH Occupational Injury Prevention

Program Goals & Objectives:

The Harvard Occupational Injury Prevention Training Program meets the need for the development of occupational injury research expertise to examine and prevent workplace injuries. The new program incorporates a unified public health approach to teaching and research of work-related injuries through the development of occupational safety engineering and science and occupational injury epidemiology. The program prepares researchers at the doctoral level to design and conduct studies that identify and evaluate risk factors, intervene and reduce exposure to risk, and manage and develop programs and policies to prevent work-related injuries. In addition, this program builds on a growing, credentialed and diverse collaborative research community, research and academic organizations, world-class occupational safety and health researchers, and students. This community provides a rich forum for the discussion of key and emergent issues in occupational injury and for the future growth and development of occupational injury prevention research.

Goals and Objectives:

1. To produce the next generation of qualified researchers with the multidisciplinary skills and experience necessary to design and conduct studies in order to understand the etiology and prevention of occupational injury.

2. To provide interdisciplinary-training for future researchers and professionals with traditional disciplinary backgrounds to expand the breadth and depth of their knowledge within in the public health framework. This approach emphasizes prevention through:

a. Identifying and evaluating risks for injury in the workplace,
b. Intervening and reducing risks with the development of administrative and engineering controls in the design of workplace environments, and
c. Managing and developing policies and programs to prevent workplace acute and chronic injuries as well as the rehabilitation and return to work of those injured.