NORA Services Sector Council

The NORA Services Sector Council brings together individuals and organizations that share an interest in improving safety and health for services workers. Council members share information, form partnerships, and promote adoption and dissemination of solutions that work. Contact the council co-chair or NORA Coordinator to volunteer.

Temporary agency workers are those who are paid by a staffing company and assigned to a host employer, including both short- and long-term assignments. Research demonstrates that the risk of experiencing a work-related injury may be higher for temporary workers than for non-temporary workers. The NORA Services Sector Council, NIOSH and partners released Protecting Temporary Workers: Best Practices for Host Employers. This new set of workplace safety and health best practices for host employers has information on contracting with staffing companies, training, injury response, and more. The NORA Services Council and partners created several resources, including a guide, checklists, training slides, and a dissemination toolkit.

Research objectives for the nation:

1. Reduce the incidence and severity of traumatic injuries in the Services sector
2. Develop, test and disseminate intervention programs for musculoskeletal disorders
3. Reduce injuries and illnesses among contingent workers
4. Reduce incidence of chronic disease among Services sector workers
5. Reduce hearing loss among Services sector workers

The NORA Services Sector is a highly diverse sector with about 68 million U.S. workers distributed across 11 major North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industry groups. It ranges from teachers to hotel housekeepers, movie producers to librarians, bank tellers to restaurant cooks, among many other occupations. The work accomplished by these workers, day after day, is even more diverse. While we can celebrate their contributions to the well-being of all of us, we know that some jobs and tasks have inherent risks.

An important priority for the Sector is to address needs of workers who experience disproportionate incidence of occupational injuries and illnesses, such as temporary and contingent workers. Other important issues that cut across much of the services industry include occupational stress, hearing loss, traumatic injuries, and musculoskeletal disorders. Finally, while many can easily recognize the potential for workplace violence in banks and among public safety workers, the risk for homicide is great for workers in the restaurant, education, and administrative and support services industries.

The NIOSH Services Program facilitates the work of the council and coordinates NIOSH research in the services sector.