Most people who have heard of NIOSH, the National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health, did so during the COVID pandemic. They saw the name when they used a NIOSH approved N95 respirator. However, NIOSH is so much more. As a student at the University of Arizona. NIOSH provided funding to set up college programs around the country to train safety professionals and to implement the requirements of the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA). I was one of those new safety professionals.
NIOSH was created along with OSHA as part of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. NIOSH was charged with conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths. It was also charged with developing new knowledge and transfering it into practice to help ensure safe and healthy working conditions. It would create recommended exposure limits, aprove safety equipment such as respirators, and conduct new ways to design safer workplaces.
Since NIOSH was created it has many accomplishments. Some include:
- The NIOSH Lifting Equation
- NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards
- Health Hazard Evaluation Program
- Fatality Investigations. FACE Program
- Industrial Cohorts. Established 70 cohorts to study work related chronic diseases.
- National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA)
- Fund research for state run OSHA programs.
- Provided safety alerts for tractor safety, latex allergies, asphalt fumes, and butter flavorings.
- Respirator Approval Program
- NIOSH mobile apps.
- Muscular Skeletal Disorder research
- World Trade Center Health Programs
- COVID-19 Pandemic
Recently, the NIOSH budget has been drastically cut, its researchers fired, and safety and health projects ended. Hopefully, this will not go on indefinitely and NIOSH will continue to be the premier organization that promotes safety and health research.
Comments are closed.