North American Occupational Safety and Health (NAOSH) Week is an annual campaign that puts workplace safety, health and environmental protection in the spotlight across the United States, Canada and Mexico. The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) leads the week in the US, working with the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering and other partners. It takes place every year during the first full week of May.
For employers, NAOSH Week is a ready-made reason to stop, talk about the hazards people face on the job and show workers that safety is part of how the business runs, not a poster on the breakroom wall.
When Is NAOSH Week in 2027?
NAOSH Week 2027 runs from Sunday, May 2 to Saturday, May 8, 2027. The timing follows a simple rule: the week is held during the first full week of May. Because May 1, 2027 falls on a Saturday, the first full week begins on Sunday, May 2.
The week often lines up with other spring campaigns. In construction, OSHA's National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls is usually held in early May, and the National Safety Council's National Safety Month follows in June. Many safety teams treat May and June as one long campaign window.
Why It Matters at Work
Serious injuries are still a daily reality in North American workplaces. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 5,070 workers died from work-related injuries in the United States in 2024, a rate of 3.3 deaths per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers. Transportation incidents were the most common cause, accounting for 38.2 percent of those deaths, and falls, slips and trips took another 844 lives.
Behind every fatality are many more injuries, near misses and unsafe conditions that never make the news. NAOSH Week is a chance to look at those early warning signs. Tracking leading indicators such as hazard reports, observations and completed inspections helps you fix problems before someone gets hurt, instead of reacting after an injury shows up on the log.
The week also matters for culture. When leaders take visible part, workers are more likely to speak up about hazards, report near misses and use stop work authority without fear of blame.
How to Take Part
ASSP shares information about the week on its NAOSH Week page, and ASSP chapters and employers across the continent host their own events. You do not need a big budget to take part. Ideas for a workplace or fleet:
- Run a safety observation drive. Ask every employee to submit at least one safety observation during the week, positive or at-risk, and share what you learned at the end.
- Hold a daily toolbox talk. Pick one hazard per day that matches your top injury causes, such as vehicle safety, slips and trips, lifting or machine guarding.
- Do a leadership walk. Have managers and supervisors walk the floor, yard or job site with a frontline worker and ask what gets in the way of doing the job safely.
- Close out open actions. Use the week to clear overdue corrective actions from past inspections and incident investigations.
- Refresh emergency readiness. Check exits, extinguishers, eyewash stations, first aid kits and AEDs, and run a short drill.
- Recognize good work. Thank crews and drivers who reported hazards or stopped unsafe work during the year.
- Look beyond the workplace. Add a session on safety at home and on the road, which ties into the week's broader message about safety and health for everyone.
Toolbox Talk: Seeing and Reporting Hazards
Use this 5-minute outline to open NAOSH Week with your crew:
- Why we are here. This week is NAOSH Week, when workplaces across North America focus on safety and health. Our goal this week is simple: find hazards before they find us.
- What a hazard looks like. A hazard is anything that could cause harm: a cord across a walkway, a missing guard, a forklift moving too fast, a blocked exit or a chemical without a label.
- Near misses count. If something almost went wrong, it is a warning. Reporting a near miss is how we stop the next one from becoming an injury.
- How to report. Tell your supervisor or submit an observation on your phone. Include where it was, what you saw and anything you did to make it safe.
- What happens next. Every report gets reviewed, and we will tell you what we changed. Nobody gets in trouble for reporting a hazard.
- Your right to stop. If a task looks unsafe, stop and ask. It is always better to pause than to get hurt.
Discussion question: What is one hazard you walked past this month that we should fix this week?
How SMS360 Helps
NAOSH Week works best when the energy carries into the rest of the year. The SMS360 Safety Observations module lets workers report hazards, near misses and positive observations from a mobile device, with photos. Supervisors can review submissions, assign corrective actions with owners and due dates, and follow them through to close. Dashboards show trends by site, department or hazard type, so you can see what your week of observations revealed and measure participation over time as part of your broader safety management system.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is NAOSH Week 2027?
NAOSH Week 2027 runs from May 2 to May 8, 2027. The week is held every year during the first full week of May, so the dates change from year to year. Check ASSP's NAOSH Week page for the latest event information.
Who organizes NAOSH Week?
The American Society of Safety Professionals leads NAOSH Week in the United States, working with the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering and partner organizations in Canada and Mexico. Employers, safety professionals and ASSP chapters host their own events during the week.
What is the NAOSH Week theme for 2027?
ASSP announces NAOSH Week themes and materials each year, so check its website closer to May for any 2027 theme. You can still plan ahead by choosing focus topics that match your own injury data and hazard reports, then layering in the official materials once they are released.
