Also see our pages on LOC Participants, LOC Meeting Minutes and Panels.

 

California Colleagues,

 

As many of you know the 2013 Work Stress, and Health (WSH) Conference, co-sponsored by the American Psychological Association (APA), the Society for Occupational Health Psychology (SOHP), and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) will be held in Los Angeles May 16-19th 2013 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites.  The conference title is Work, Stress, and Health 2013: Protecting and Promoting Total Worker Health. The broad goal of this year’s conference is to highlight the concept of Total Worker Health^TM – a new approach to safeguarding the health and safety of workers. In accordance with this conference theme and in addition to usual conference topics (see below), the conference will give special attention to:

 

– Case reports and controlled studies on the effects of integrated health protection and health promotion interventions;

– Studies investigating the joint contribution of occupational and non-occupational factors to health and safety problems facing workers today;

– Strategies and best practices for implementing and evaluating integrated or holistic prevention programs;

– Merits, challenges, future directions, etc., relating to integrated prevention strategies;

– Training needs in order to advance research and practice relating to Total Worker Health^TM.

 

More information about the conference is available at http://www.apa.org/wsh/

 

The CSE has been asked by the conference planners to help organize a Local Organizing Committee (LOC). The charge to the local organizing committee is open-ended and below is a potential list of things to do that have been suggested by Gwen Keita, Ted Scharf and Wes Baker. 

 

This meeting gives us a wonderful opportunity to focus local, state and national attention on issues of occupational health and safety confronting Californians. 

 

We are planning several conference related activities and will use these to build a state-wide coalition of interested persons committed to improvements in occupational health in California.

 

Possible activities for the next year include:

 

                1) Identifying the occupational health needs of California now and for 2020

                2) Develop panels for inclusion in next year’s conference including:

                         A) Labor views on the workplace and occupational health

                         B) Minority needs

                         C) An occupational health agenda for 2020

                         D) A debate over Total Worker Health (the conference theme) and the best ways to introduce change at the workplace

                3) Expand and develop a network of individuals and companies committed to positive changes in California.

                        A) Examining the impact of austerity measures on California Occupational Health

                4) Work on items from the list below suggested by APA/NIOSH

 

We have held meetings in Southern California and  Northern California in conjunction with the California Work and Health Study Group to discuss these possibilities (see LOC Meeting Minutes). 

 

Please get back to me with your thoughts about all this and your interests.

 

Peter Schnall and Marnie Dobson for the CSE