State of the Sector | Healthcare and Social Assistance Identification of Research Opportunities for the Next Decade of NORA

This report was developed by the NORA Healthcare and Social Assistance Sector Council and is being distributed by NIOSH.

This document addresses the research needs of the occupational safety and health community within the Healthcare and Social Assistance (HCSA) industrial sector. This important industrial sector represents about 11% of the U.S. workforce—approximately 17.4 million workers in 2006—of which 80% are in healthcare. The HCSA sector contains 12 of the 20 fastest growing occupations, and the projected growth of this sector through 2014 exceeds that of any other industrial sector. Workers in the HCSA sector are exposed to a wide range of health and safety hazards including infectious, chemical, and physical agents; lifting and repetitive tasks (ergonomic hazards); stress (psychological hazards); workplace violence; and risks associated with suboptimal organization of work.

View the Executive Summary of the State of the Sector | Healthcare and Social Assistance: Identification of Research Opportunities for the Next Decade of NORA.

State of the Sector | Healthcare and Social Assistance Identification of Research Opportunities for the Next Decade of NORA [PDF – 3.09 MB]