Directory Profile

Dr. Natalie Schwatka’s primary research focus is on developing small business leaders’ capacity to protect and promote their workers’ health, safety, and well-being—called a Total Worker Heath^® (TWH) approach. Previously, she collaborated on a safety leadership training development and evaluation project in the construction industry. This CPWR: The Center for Construction for Research and Training funded project resulted in a nationally recognized training—The Foundations for Safety Leadership—that has the potential to reach over 100,000 construction workers annually. Currently, she is a co-investigator on a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) grant that seeks to understand how to change small business TWH practices. She led the development of one arm of the intervention—a TWH Leadership Training Program for small business owners and other senior leaders. She recently received a NIOSH mentored research scientist development award (K01) to examine the predictive relationship between small business TWH strategies and leadership practices, their influence on health and safety climate, and ultimately their influence on employee motivation, practices, health status, and employee productivity. In addition to her work on leadership, she also has experience using multiple sources of health data to conduct occupational health and safety surveillance and predictive modeling to understand leading and lagging indicators of workplace health and safety. Dr. Schwatka is an assistant professor within the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health where she teaches TWH courses. She is also the co-director of the Certificate in TWH program.