Recurring Limited Submissions

Slots: 1

Deadlines

Internal Deadline: Friday, July 14, 2023, 5pm PT

LOI: 30 days prior.

External Deadline: October 24, 2023

Recurring Deadlines: October 22, 2024  

Award Information

Award Type: Cooperative Agreement

Estimated Number of Awards: NIOSH anticipates funding approximately 10-12 awards through this announcement.

Anticipated Award Amount: $15-18 million total costs (direct and indirect costs) in FY 2022.
NIOSH intends to commit approximately $80-100 million in total costs (direct and indirect) over the entire project period (up to 5 years).  

Who May Serve as PI: Standard requirements.

Link to Award: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-OH-22-002.html

Process for Limited Submissions

PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII) Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/. Use the template provided here: RII Limited Submission Applicant Template

Materials to submit include:

• (1) Two-Page Proposal Summary (1” margins; single-spaced; standard font type, e.g. Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 2-page limit will be excluded from review. You must use the template linked above.
• (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)

Note: The portal requires information about the PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.

Purpose

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing (AgFF) occupations have long been recognized as some of the most dangerous in the country. The AgFF sector has a workforce over 2 million strong, and many of these laborers are at significant risk due to a combination of factors. AgFF workers encounter numerous physical, chemical, and biological hazards during their daily routines. Physical hazards may include the dangers associated with the use of tractors and other heavy equipment, working in extreme temperatures, or coping with large livestock. Chemical hazards may include inadvertent exposure to pesticides and herbicides during their application or to potentially hazardous commodities during the production or harvesting processes (such as in green tobacco sickness). Biological hazards may include the threat of exposure to zoonosis for those who are in nearly continuous contact with swine, poultry, or other animal vectors. Furthermore, many laborers in these industries are foreign born and therefore encounter language and cultural barriers that might exacerbate these threats. Additionally, factors such as limited access to health care and worker training resources may also intensify these hazards. Finally, the seasonal nature of some crops might also create an economically driven, forced migration that may generate unintended second-order effects in the workforce in areas such as housing, diet, and social support systems.

The purpose of this funding opportunity is to provide support for Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health (Ag Centers) to address the significant and varied morbidity and mortality burden in U.S. AgFF occupations. Ag Centers conduct research and outreach activities as a means of building and expanding upon existing scientific evidence and transferring evidence-based research findings to appropriate stakeholders for adoption, adaptation, integration, scale-up and sustainability.  The overarching goal of the Ag Centers is to reduce adverse outcomes in AgFF worker health and safety.

Healthy People 2030

The United States Public Health Service (PHS) is committed to achieving a society in which all people live long, healthy lives. The vision, mission, and goals are found in Healthy People 2030, a PHS-led national activity to achieve better health in the United States by the year 2030. This funding announcement is linked to the goals of Healthy People 2030, that are intended to prevent work-related diseases, injuries, and deaths while improving worker health, safety, and well-being.

According to the Healthy People 2030, more than 160 million people participate in the U.S. labor force, and their work has an intrinsic connection to their safety and health. Decades of public health surveillance and research have demonstrated that work-related injuries adversely affect employers, workers, and communities. Workplace settings vary widely in size, sector, design, location, processes, culture, and resources. In addition, workers themselves have different ages, genders, education levels, cultural backgrounds, health practices, vulnerabilities, and levels of access to preventive health care. This translates into great diversity and disparity in the safety and health risks for each industry sector and the need for tailored interventions.

Public Health Impact

Ag Centers are expected to have a significant and sustained impact on reducing morbidity and mortality in the AgFF workforce. Despite safety advances in many areas of this sector, and recently documented decreases in adverse health outcomes for this workforce, AgFF workers are still disproportionately affected in comparison to workers in other industrial sectors. Because of the diversity of activities in agriculture, forestry, and fishing jobs, Ag Centers must be sensitive to regional work practices and how these practices can be modified and improved to increase protections for the worker population. Ag Centers should also attempt to facilitate the use and adaption of new approaches or best practices in similar segments of the workforce or regions of the country through collaboration and coordination with fellow centers, academic institutions, nonprofit entities, industry, and labor organizations.

Relevant Work

In 1990, Public Law 101-517 directed NIOSH to establish a program of improving the health and safety of agricultural workers and their families. Details in the Senate appropriations language of PL 101-517 included the innovative call to establish “centers for agricultural occupational safety and health.” Beginning in 1990, NIOSH established and maintained these centers through a series of competitive FOAs, including PAR-11-022, PAR-06-057, RFA-OH-03-002, and RFA-OH-01-004.

Ag Centers conduct high quality research and subsequently disseminate their findings and recommendations to appropriate audiences and stakeholders through outreach and education activities. The centers identify practical solutions to complex problems while cultivating collaboration and partnerships. Ag Centers are distributed throughout the nation to be responsive to agricultural safety and health issues unique to different regions. Links to the Ag Centers currently funded by NIOSH are provided at NIOSH Ag Centers.

Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.

Slots: 1

Deadlines

Internal Deadline: Friday, July 21, 2023, 5pm PT

LOI: 30 days prior.

External Deadline: October 30, 2023

Award Information

Award Type: Cooperative Agreement

Estimated Number of Awards:  NIOSH anticipates funding up to 8 awards through this announcement. Awards issued under this FOA are contingent upon the availability of funds and the submission of a sufficient number of meritorious applications.

Anticipated Award Amount: $11.2 million total cost (direct and indirect costs) in FY 2021.
Future year amounts will depend on annual appropriations. NIOSH intends to commit approximately $56 million in total costs (direct and indirect) over the entire project period (up to 5 years).  

Who May Serve as PI: Standard NIH requirements.

Link to Award: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-20-297.html

Process for Limited Submissions

PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII) Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/. Use the template provided here: RII Limited Submission Applicant Template

Materials to submit include:

• (1) Two-Page Proposal Summary (1” margins; single-spaced; standard font type, e.g. Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 2-page limit will be excluded from review. You must use the template linked above.
• (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)

Note: The portal requires information about the PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.

Purpose

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) TWH Program builds on four decades of scientific knowledge through the recognition that work is a social determinant of health; job-related factors such as wages, hours of work, workload and stress levels, interactions with coworkers and supervisors, access to paid leave, and health-promoting workplaces all can have an important impact on the well-being of workers, their families, and their communities. TWH 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. This approach prioritizes a hazard-free work environment for all workers and comprehensively integrates workplace systems relevant to the control of hazards and exposures, organization of work, compensation and benefits, work-life integration/management, and organizational change management.  The NIOSH TWH program supports ground-breaking research and practical applications that address the implications of today’s changing workplace and responds to demands for information and practical solutions to the health, safety, and well-being challenges that workers face.

To address evolving challenges and opportunities related to worker safety, health, and well-being, the TWH program highlights critical priority areas and emerging issues currently relevant to advancing worker well-being. These are not intended to be an exhaustive list, imply a hierarchy of importance, or be mutually exclusive. The program’s latest research interests and needs are:

1. Opioid and Other Substance Use Disorders in the Workplace
2. TWH Outreach, Education, and Training
3. Measuring Worker Well-Being
4. Future of Work
5. Healthy Work Design and Well-Being
6. Workplace Mental Health and Worker Well-Being.

Centers of Excellence for TWH are expected to conduct research, planning and evaluation, and outreach and education that integrate traditional occupational safety and health (OSH) protection with interventions that protect, preserve, and advance the overall well-being of workers, communicate knowledge and best practices, and develop effective partnerships with workers, organizations and employers, NIOSH scientists, communities, and other entities.

To guide the development of research, practice, policy, and capacity-building activities, NIOSH has published a national 10-year agenda that is intended to define and prioritize relevant areas of emphasis. See the National TWH Agenda (2016-2026) webpage for more information.

The priority areas in the Agenda include:

1. Research: Advance and conduct basic/etiologic, intervention, translational, and surveillance research that builds the evidence base for effectively integrating protection from work-related safety and health hazards with promotion of injury and illness prevention efforts to advance worker well-being.
2. Practice: Increase the awareness and adoption of effective 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.
3. Policy: Create guidance for policies that integrate protection from work-related safety and health hazards with promotion of injury and illness prevention efforts to advance worker well-being.
4. Capacity-Building: Build professional capacity to strengthen the TWH workforce and TWH field to support the development, growth, and maintenance of 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.

Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.

Slots: 1

Deadlines

Internal Deadline: Friday, July 14, 2023, 5pm PT

LOI: 30 days prior.

External Deadline: October 24, 2023

Recurring Deadlines: October 22, 2024; October 21, 2025; October 26, 2027 

Award Information

Award Type: Grant

Estimated Number of Awards: Up to 18

Anticipated Award Amount: $1.8 million total costs

Who May Serve as PI: Standard NIH requirements.

Link to Award: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-OH-23-003.html

Process for Limited Submissions

PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII) Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/. Use the template provided here: RII Limited Submission Applicant Template

Materials to submit include:

• (1) Two-Page Proposal Summary (1” margins; single-spaced; standard font type, e.g. Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 2-page limit will be excluded from review. You must use the template linked above.
• (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)

Note: The portal requires information about the PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.

Purpose

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 mandates that NIOSH provide an adequate supply of qualified personnel to carry out the purposes of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. NIOSH ERCs have a key role in meeting this mandate and contribute to the Institute’s core mission of preventing workplace injuries and illnesses. In 1977, NIOSH supported 9 ERCs in 9 states and 5 Health and Human Services (HHS) Federal Regions. Presently, NIOSH supports 18 ERCs across all 10 HHS Regions. Over 20,000 individuals graduated from ERCs in the core and allied disciplines in occupational health and safety from 1977 – 2020. As capacity in occupational safety and health practice and research has increased, the number and rates of work-related injuries, illnesses, and fatalities have decreased (BLS, 2021).

The far-reaching impact of the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the vital role occupational health and safety has in the United States and beyond. From occupational exposures that led to illness and death to the mental and economic stressors the pandemic placed across individuals, workplaces and communities, ERCs responded rapidly to the needs of their students, staff and faculty and regional stakeholders by providing broad-based approaches to protection from the virus. This included guidance on proper use and decontamination of personal protective equipment, respirator fit testing, social distancing for worksites, and the use of physical protective barriers. Many ERCs developed communication products, resource guides, online courses, and webinars on safe work practices during the pandemic.

As our nation and the world continues to recover from the pandemic, ERCs will continue to train safety and health practitioners and researchers with the knowledge and skills to respond to natural, man-made, environmental, and public health disasters. Historically, ERCs have provided expertise in worker health and safety following events such as hurricanes (Katrina, Maria, and Harvey), the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, illicit drug exposures to law enforcement and emergency medical services, and Ebola and influenza outbreaks. ERC’s responses have included outreach activities and research training opportunities that highlighted the expertise of ERC’s faculty, staff, and trainees.

Public Health Impact

Work-related illnesses continue to have a significant public health impact, and part of NIOSH’s mission is to train the next generation of occupational safety and health (OSH) practitioners and researchers. The National Assessment of the Occupational Safety and Health Workforce documents a significant shortfall in the supply of trained OSH professionals to meet demand in the United States. The report provided evidence of the continued need to support OSH training and education in the core and allied disciplines.

Recent work by Felknor, et al (2020) speaks to the ‘rapid and profound changes in the future of work that will have significant implication for the education and training of OSH professionals and the workforce’. NIOSH’s network of ERCs is critical in developing OSH professionals prepared to respond to the changing nature of work. These changes are the result of technological advances, globalization, new and emerging risks, occupational health disparities associated with the changing demographics of the US workforce, climate change and other factors. The ERCs provide well-trained graduates and professionals for federal, state, and local government agencies; not-for-profit agencies; industry; academia; business; healthcare; and labor organizations. ERCs strive to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion in the safety and health workforce through training, research training, continuing education, and outreach.

Relevant Work

ERC key personnel and trainees collaborate with stakeholders to develop innovative approaches to improving workplace safety and health, by the translation of research to practice (r2p) and prevention through design (PtD). NIOSH ERCs translate scientific discoveries into practice through effective training, research, continuing education, and outreach. To learn more about the breadth and depth of NIOSH ERCs, visit NIOSH’s website.

Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.