Importance Score: 85 / 100 🟢
Staffing Reductions at Federal Health Agency Spark Outcry Over Worker Safety
Extensive personnel reductions have significantly weakened a key US agency dedicated to safeguarding worker health, prompting strong criticism from firefighters, coal miners, medical equipment manufacturers, and numerous other sectors. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), based in Cincinnati and a component of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is reportedly losing approximately 850 out of its 1,000 employees, according to estimations from a labor union and affected staff. Among those impacted by the layoffs is its former director, Dr. John Howard, who had served in the role across three previous presidential administrations.
These personnel cuts are causing delays and potential termination of multiple critical programs, including a vital firefighter cancer registry and a laboratory essential for certifying respirators across various industries.
“The reductions represent a direct assault on workers throughout the nation,” asserted Micah Niemeier-Walsh, vice president of the union local representing NIOSH employees in Cincinnati.
Labor unions representing miners, nurses, flight attendants, and other professions have voiced strong objections to the cutbacks, arguing that they will impede the identification and prevention of workplace hazards. Public rallies in Cincinnati and other cities have attracted not only dismissed CDC personnel but also members of unions for teachers, postal workers, and bricklayers, according to Niemeier-Walsh.
NIOSH physicians play a crucial role in reviewing and certifying that 9/11 first responders suffering from chronic illnesses meet the criteria for care under the federal government’s World Trade Center Health Program, emphasized Andrew Ansbro, president of a union representing New York City firefighters.
“The dismantling of NIOSH disrespects the memory of our fallen colleagues and abandons those still grappling with 9/11-related health issues,” Ansbro stated.
NIOSH’s Role in Investigating Workplace Hazards
Established under a 1970 law signed by President Richard Nixon, NIOSH commenced operations the following year. It expanded to include offices and laboratories in eight cities, including Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Spokane, Washington, and Morgantown, West Virginia.
Over the past five decades, the agency has conducted groundbreaking research on indoor air quality in offices, workplace violence, and occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens.
NIOSH investigators were instrumental in identifying a novel lung disease in workers at microwave popcorn factories and contributed to the assessment of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster. More recently, NIOSH has been involved in the CDC’s measles response, providing guidance on curbing its transmission within healthcare facilities.
Mining safety is a significant area of NIOSH’s expertise. The agency trains and certifies doctors in black lung disease testing and conducts mobile screenings for miners. NIOSH previously operated an experimental mine in Pennsylvania and recently announced plans to develop a replacement research facility near Mace, West Virginia, featuring simulated mine environments.
NIOSH’s research and recommendations have provided the basis for Department of Labor regulations aimed at worker protection, including a recent rule for coal miners that halved permissible exposure limits to hazardous silica dust.
Studies indicate that NIOSH research contributes to significant national cost savings annually through the reduction of workers’ compensation claims and related expenses.
“Any disruption to this vital research and the subsequent recommendations can affect all sectors of the workforce,” noted Tessa Bonney, an occupational health expert at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Uncertainty Surrounds Impact of Staff Reductions
NIOSH is impacted by widespread upheaval within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), encompassing approximately 10,000 job cuts, a planned reorganization, and proposed budget decreases.
Non-unionized NIOSH staff, primarily supervisors, were immediately instructed to vacate their offices. Unionized employees received layoff notices indicating terminations later in the year.
“Currently, we are trying to clarify the chain of command,” stated Niemeier-Walsh.
HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon stated that the remaining NIOSH personnel will be integrated into a newly established agency known as the Administration for a Healthy America.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has suggested that up to 20% of federal health agency personnel who were laid off may be reinstated to rectify errors, but the department has not specified which NIOSH divisions were reduced or eliminated and which will continue operating.
Current information regarding the cuts has been compiled by affected employees and their union representatives. They report that almost every NIOSH program has experienced significant reductions or complete elimination.
The firefighter cancer registry website reportedly became inaccessible Tuesday “due to the absence of IT personnel to maintain the system,” according to Niemeier-Walsh.
Furthermore, some of the laboratory animals, including mice and rats, at a NIOSH facility in Morgantown are likely to be euthanized as the layoffs caused an abrupt halt to inhalation research, explained Cathy Tinney-Zara, a public health analyst and president of the union local representing employees there.
“Millions of dollars worth of research, decades of research, are being wasted,” Tinney-Zara lamented.
Industry Expresses Concern Over Respirator Certification Lab
Much of the criticism from labor unions and industry has focused on the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory, a NIOSH division that evaluates and certifies respirator masks designed to protect workers from inhaling airborne contaminants. (The N95 masks widely used during the COVID-19 pandemic are based on a NIOSH standard.)
Closing this laboratory could provide a competitive advantage to foreign companies, particularly those in China, that export products to the U.S. without adhering to the rigorous quality standards required for certification, argued Eric Axel, executive director of the American Medical Manufacturers Association.
“This decision effectively rewards international manufacturers who have not invested in quality and safety, while penalizing American companies that have prioritized reliable, high-quality protective equipment,” Axel stated.
The cuts are “extremely damaging,” remarked Rebecca Shelton, policy director for the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, a Kentucky-based organization offering legal aid to coal miners afflicted with illness.
“Throughout central Appalachia, nearly everyone knows someone suffering from black lung disease,” she added.
It appears NIOSH programs dedicated to coal miners are being discontinued, raising questions about future monitoring of new cases and the identification of emerging trends, Shelton explained.
NIOSH staff regularly visited mines and rural communities to offer complimentary health screenings and deliver presentations at public forums about black lung disease and other occupational health concerns.
“These are not detached federal employees; they maintain strong connections” within their communities, she emphasized.
Many NIOSH employees have family histories deeply rooted in occupational health. Niemeier-Walsh’s grandfather served as an agency toxicologist for three decades.
“Discussions about leveraging science to protect workers were common dinner conversations in our family,” she recalled.