Skip to main content

Epidemiology & Exposure Science

From epidemiology and exposure health studies to organizational culture evaluations—ORAU's worker health research focuses on workplace hazards and the occupational health and safety of workers. The foundation of our expertise stems from more than 50 years of collecting, managing, and analyzing occupational data on current and former workers—many of whom supported U.S. Department of Energy missions that date back to the Manhattan Project (WWII 1940s).

If you are interested in conducting research that involves the study of worker populations and workplace exposures, we can match you with our worker health and epidemiology experts for a deeper dive into research that aims to answer important questions about how exposures or other factors contribute to the development of diseases, including cancer.

Research focus areas

  • Epidemiology/exposure risk assessments
  • Safety culture assessments
  • Organizational culture assessments
  • Impact of opioid abuse on the workforce

Impact Areas

30,000 nuclear workers surveyed on safety cultures in their workplaces

Efforts to monitor and continuously improve safety culture have led nuclear industry leaders to task ORAU with performing periodic, comprehensive safety culture evaluations of their workforces and practices. By using written surveys and electronic surveys, focus groups and one-on-one interviews, ORAU gained input from 30,000 workers over six years, which resulted in valuable feedback on the effectiveness of safety programs and initiatives.

Workers desire an environment where they are respected for their expertise, acknowledged for their contributions and informed about the reasons behind decisions. For each customer, ORAU follows up with recommendations to help managers and supervisors influence the perceptions, attitudes, behaviors and performance of the workforce.

The most common areas of concern center on leadership behavior and communication. Subsequent improvement actions reinforce strong management systems, decision making and leadership behavior; personal accountability for safety; and communication and reporting of safety concerns.

By following recommendations and taking effective safety culture actions, leaders are able to make data-driven decisions that help them stay on the leading edge of safety management of high-hazard work.

30,000 nuclear workers surveyed on safety cultures in their workplaces

Contact us

If you have questions about ORAU's research partnerships, contact us at (865) 576-1717 or .