NIOSH’s FACE Program Benefits ASSE Members

NIOSH’s FACE program, designed to study fatal occupational injuries, identifies and investigates work situations at high risk for injury then formulates prevention strategies to those who can intervene in the workplace. “FACE investigations differ from those conducted by OSHA and regulatory agencies in that the purpose is to learn from the event rather than find fault or place blame,” says Dawn Castillo, Director of the Division of Safety Research at NIOSH. “The primary product of FACE is a narrative report for each investigated fatality that describes the event and contributing factors and makes recommendations for preventing future deaths and injuries under similar circumstances.” NIOSH and state partners develop a variety of other products as well, including documents that summarize findings across multiple investigations, she adds. The program also tells the stories behind the statistics, providing contextual information to help understand what factors lead to occupational injury deaths. ASSE members can use FACE reports to assess if there may be relevant lessons for their workplaces. “ASSE members may also find the individual reports and stories useful in their communications with management and worker training, as they describe real-life situations involving real-life workers that went tragically wrong, and they identify preventive measures that if taken might prevent future deaths and injuries among similar circumstances,” Castillo says. FACE is a flagship program of the Division of Safety Research.