2025 TWH Peer Learning Series - Employer Crisis Preparedness Using a Total Worker Health® Lens

The COVID-19 pandemic, acts of violence, and various weather-related disasters have continued to reveal a lack of employer preparedness. This session addresses how to apply a Total Worker Health (TWH) approach to preventing, managing, responding to, and/or recovering from crises and disasters that impact the workplace, employees, and their community. Participants will participate in a case study exercise to illustrate TWH application and will learn how to access free educational and planning resources.  

Upon completion, attendees will have been exposed to:

1. Explain the rationale for applying a TWH approach to employer crisis planning.
2. List 7 domains that should be included in a TWH crisis preparedness plan.
3. Locate free tools and educational resources available to employers to assist with crisis preparedness planning.

This is not a passive learning experience. The format is built for all participants to engage in the discussion together after the brief presentations to learn from each other and guest speakers invited from industry and the Total Worker Health® community. 

To ensure a meaningful discussion for participants, we are limiting participation to 60 attendees for this session. Any Society for Total Worker Health™ members on the waitlist will be given priority as spaces free up. Due to the large amount of interest in this program, we are exploring opportunities to continue this discussion.

 Speakers

Cora Roelofs, ScD, Co-Director and Outreach Director

Center for Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Cora Roelofs, ScD, is an occupational health and safety researcher whose research focuses on opportunities and obstacles to the prevention of workplace hazards. She is Principal Investigator of the Total Worker Health Employer Crisis Preparedness study, funded by NIOSH through the Center for the Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace at University of Massachusetts Lowell. Dr. Roelofs worked with the Northeast Human Resources Association to develop and evaluate a training intervention with practical tools to promote the worker protection and promotion of worker well-being in the face of a diversity of disasters that are currently impacting workplaces such as acts of violence and severe weather. Her research also addresses opioid hazard awareness and prevention of heat illness. She is currently director of evaluation for CPWR - The Center for Construction Research and Training.