Occupational Health

Mission  

The Occupational Health Program is dedicated to the continuous improvement of occupational health and safety by serving as a technical and professional resource for the UW-Madison campus community.  

In support of this, we commit to:

  • Promote a healthful and safe campus environment through evaluation, education, and consultation
  • Support the campus pursuit of injury and illness prevention and health and safety compliance
  • Collaborate with others to improve health and safety at UW-Madison    

Three primary questions the Occupational Health Program can help you answer include:  

Is my workplace safe?  

The Occupational Health Program has credentialed safety, industrial hygiene and training staff to help assess a variety of hazards in the workplace, including those found in research labs, offices, construction, agriculture and many other settings.  

Is my workplace affecting my health?  

The Occupational Health Program partners with the Occupational Medicine Program at University Health Services to provide medical health consultation and surveillance services to monitor, protect and enhance employee and student health in the workplace. We also partner with the Environmental Health Program which provides services including air and water quality testing, biosafety cabinet certification and food and recreational facility licensing.  

How do I protect myself from workplace hazards?  

The Occupational Health Program, coordinating with the rest of the EHS Department offers a wide variety of workplace safety training programs designed to educate and empower staff to protect themselves at work. Many of these programs are required by state and federal workplace safety law.

  • The Industrial Hygiene work group offers technical assistance and consultation for personal protective equipment use as well as exposure assessment services such as indoor air quality, chemical and noise exposure assessment.
  • The Abatement workgroup provides guidance and oversight services for managing building-related hazardous materials such as asbestos, lead and mold.
  • The Ergonomics workgroup provides guidance and assessment of ergonomic risks, training and equipment recommendations.
  • The Research Safety workgroup provides protocol review, inspection and technical assistance support for animal research safety and bloodborne pathogens.
  • The Workplace Safety workgroup provides technical assistance and assessment support for campus facility-related safety concerns.
  • The Training workgroup coordinates training for the occupational health program.