Provider invitation letter

ATTACHMENT E

PROVIDER INVITATION LETTER

[NIOSH LETTERHEAD]

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am writing to encourage your participation in a major study being conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). NIOSH is a national source of competitive funding for programs that educate and train professionals devoted to protecting the safety and health of the American worker. This study will help NIOSH determine its future funding priorities by answering the following questions:

1. What are employer expectations for hiring occupational safety and health professionals in the coming years? What credentials and skills do employers desire in these professionals?

2. How many and what types of occupational safety and health professionals do academic institutions expect to produce in the coming years?

The first objective is being met through a survey of a nationwide sample of employers. The second objective is being met through a survey of education and training programs such as yours that produce professionals in fields related to occupational safety and health. We are attempting to survey all such programs in the nation.

Participating in the study is easy. Simply go to the following website (www.SITE-URL.com) and enter your unique username and password: Username: xxxxxxx Password: xxxxxxx

If desired, you will be able to save your answers and return to the study website at a later time.

The data for this study is being collected for NIOSH by Westat, a research company in Rockville, Maryland. Westat is required to protect the privacy of all information collected. Under no circumstances will information held by NIOSH and Westat be released in a form that allows for the identification of individual universities, programs, faculty, or students.

Your participation in this study is voluntary and there is no penalty for not participating. However, the validity of the study results depends on a high response rate, so we hope that you will respond completely and accurately to the study questions.

Thank you in advance for your participation. If you have any questions about the study, please call Westat toll-free at 1-xxx-xxx-xxxx.

Sincerely,