Globally 2.9 million annual deaths (nearly 8 000 deaths/day) in 2019 were attributed to work with 2.58 million due to occupational diseases and 0.32 million related to occupational accidents. The burden of occupational diseases and injuries increased by 26% from 2014. The economic loss due to occupational diseases is estimated at 5.8% of the global gross domestic product.

OHHRI was officially established in 2015 as a research Niche Area, upgraded to a research Focus Area in 2020 within the University’s research entity model. The focus of OHHRI concerns the anticipation, recognition, evaluation, and control (management) of chemical, physical and biological stressors (factors) posing a risk to the health of workers in primarily South African workplaces.

Apart from the occupational hygiene expertise and an expansive collection of specialised research equipment and instruments, our competitive advantage may be attributed to: (i) our specific focus on occupational hygiene research, with other universities conducting research in predominantly occupational, environmental and public health; (ii) our historic and ongoing collaboration with industry, in particular the mining industry; and (iii) our research MHSc degree in occupational hygiene, which is not offered by any other South African university.  

Research collaboration is not limited to industry partners, and research collaboration exist with other research entities of the NWU, other national and international universities and institutes.