The Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (RMCOEH), a partnership between the University of Utah and Weber State University and one of the nation’s leading centers focused on the health and safety of workers and their environment, was recently awarded an $8.6 million grant that will allow it to further a mission that touches tens of thousands of people each year in Utah and across the West.
The purpose of the funding, from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), is to provide students with graduate-level training in occupational and environmental health and safety, offer continuing education to professionals and businesses and perform research that moves the needle on topics related to worker health and safety. RMCOEH is one of 18 NIOSH-sponsored Education and Research Centers in the U.S. RMCOEH has received funding from NIOSH since the center’s founding in 1977 and must reapply for the grant through a competing renewal process every five years.
“We are grateful for our partnership with NIOSH and pleased that we continue to demonstrate our ability to turn grant money into real-world impacts that improve lives of workers and aid businesses,” said Dr. Kurt Hegmanwho has directed RMCOEH since 2003. “We’re here to make sure as many workers as possible return to their families, healthy and whole, at the end of the day. That’s a responsibility that we, as well as the folks at NIOSH, take seriously.”
RMCOEH uses the NIOSH funding to support its academic programs in occupational medicine, ergonomics and safety, industrial hygiene, occupational injury prevention and targeted research training, all housed at the University of Utah, as well as its continuing education program at Weber State. The grant also funds outreach and pilot project research training initiatives.
Since its inception, RMCOEH has produced 781 graduates from its degree programs. The vast majority of the center’s trainees assume professional positions in which they typically work to improve the health and safety of thousands of workers. The center’s continuing education and outreach efforts, meanwhile, have touched an annual average of 93,000 people and 8,200 businesses over the past five years.
“We’re immensely proud of what we have accomplished,” said Dr. Matthew Hughes, RMCOEH deputy. “It takes contributions from everyone involved with the center at both universities. It’s exciting to think about where we will be a few years from now when we are applying for this grant again.”
This NIOSH award marks the first time RMCOEH has earned the funding as a multi-university partnership. After the center operated solely at the University of Utah for most of its existence, the Utah Legislature in 2021 passed a law bringing Weber State into its operating structure.