University to create workplace health center

The University of Massachusetts at Lowell has been awarded a federal grant estimated at $5 million to create the Center for the Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace.

The center, which aims to improve workplace safety and health, is a cooperative venture by UMass-Lowell and the University of Connecticut, with assistance from healthcare and insurance companies, state governments, and labor organizations.

The money is to be disbursed over five years.

``These grants will permit us to take a much broader and more inclusive approach to promoting health as well as preventing disease and injury," Laura Punnett, professor of work environment at UMass-Lowell, said in a statement.

According to a press release by US Representative Martin Meehan, a Lowell Democrat, more than 40 institutions across the country applied for the grant. UMass-Lowell and the University of Iowa were chosen to receive the funding.