Anyone in the US who’s depended on a respirator to provide protection against dust, smoke, mold or airborne viruses has likely relied on a small but mighty agency within the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assure that they’re shielded from things that could damage their health.
The 1,300-person National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, was established in 1970 to ensure “every man and woman in the Nation safe and healthful working conditions and to preserve our human resources.”
On Tuesday, an estimated two-thirds of its staff was cut, or about 870 workers, as part of sweeping reductions across federal health agencies that wiped out entire divisions focused on the health and safety of miners, firefighters, health-care workers and others in one day.
The moves drew immediate reaction from industry, lawmakers and unions representing workers that rely on NIOSH protections. US Sen. Shelley Capito, R-West Virginia, said in a Thursday media briefing that she was having a call with US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to ask him to reverse course.
The United Mine Workers of America, a union representing coal miners, said the hundreds of NIOSH workers who were dismissed “literally save the lives of coal miners every day.”
The National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association, which represents 500 companies that rely on miners to produce building materials, also called on Kennedy to reconsider. The National Waste & Recycling Association called the NIOSH cuts “a step in the wrong direction.”
Edward A. Kelly, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, posted on social media Wednesday that he spoke with the White House “and urged the administration to fully restore these vital programs,” specifically citing the Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program and the World Trade Center Health Program.
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