Employers' responsibility under the OSH Act to protect workers on job sites must be the first consideration in NIOSH's Total Worker Health program, according to a statement by the Laborers’ Health and Safety Fund of North America. The broad NIOSH initiative seeks to increase awareness of health concerns all of the time, not just at work. Officials with the laborers' fund, which works with both members of Laborers' International Union of North America and signatory employers, say any failure by contractors to first focus on their statutory duties could lead to Total Worker Health being viewed as a "blame the worker" approach.
