Research priority in occupational health

Prioritizing research fields prevents wastage of budgets and increase efficacy of research. Paying attention to health of employees and workers is necessary for promoting health and sustainable development in the country. Therefore this study was conducted in order to determine the research priorities in the field of occupational health in Iran.
In order to determine the research priorities in the field of occupational health the COHRED model was used. Data collection was done by review of literature, obtaining the views of experts (by interview and Delphi technique) and collecting statistics from relevant officials. Priority setting was done in two stages and based on Delphi technique. In this research out of 70 identified research centers, 22 participated in the study. Descriptive statistics including mean (SD) and frequency (percentage) was used to analysis the data.
Results of this study showed that musculoskeletal disorders and injuries had the highest research priority in Iran. The occupation of workers in mine and industries had the highest research priority. Also three indicators of equity in service provision, work security and healthy life style had the highest research priority among the social determinants of health for workers.
In summary in this research it was attempted that research priorities be defined in different areas of research which can be used as a tool for decision makers in distribution of resources in the field of occupational health.