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National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

Agency overview
Formed	December 29, 1970; 48 years ago (1970-12-29)
Jurisdiction	Federal government of the United States
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Employees	~1,200
Agency executive	John Howard, Director
Parent department	Department of Health and Human Services
Parent agency	Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Website	cdc.gov/niosh/

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH, /ˈnaɪɒʃ/) is the United States federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. NIOSH is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

NIOSH is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with research laboratories and offices in Cincinnati, Ohio; Morgantown, West Virginia; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Denver, Colorado; Anchorage, Alaska; Spokane, Washington; and Atlanta, Georgia.^[1] NIOSH is a professionally diverse organization with a staff of 1,200 people representing a wide range of disciplines including epidemiology, medicine, industrial hygiene, safety, psychology, engineering, chemistry, and statistics.

The director of NIOSH is John Howard.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed by President Richard M. Nixon, on December 29, 1970, created both NIOSH and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). NIOSH was established to help ensure safe and healthful working conditions by providing research, information, education, and training in the field of occupational safety and health. NIOSH provides national and world leadership to prevent work-related illness, injury, disability, and death by gathering information, conducting scientific research, and translating the knowledge gained into products and services.^[2]

Strategic goals

NIOSH abides by a strategic plan for meeting institutional goals and allocating resources. The Institute has three overarching goals:

The goals are supported by NIOSH's program portfolio. The portfolio categorizes Institute efforts into 10 groups representing industrial sectors. The program portfolio further subdivides efforts into 24 cross sectors.^[4]

NIOSH authority

Unlike its counterpart, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, NIOSH is not a regulatory agency. It does not issue safety and health standards that are enforceable under U.S. law. Rather, NIOSH's authority under the Occupational Safety and Health Act [29 CFR § 671] is to "develop recommendations for health and safety standards", to "develop information on safe levels of exposure to toxic materials and harmful physical agents and substances", and to "conduct research on new safety and health problems". NIOSH may also "conduct on-site investigations (Health Hazard Evaluations) to determine the toxicity of materials used in workplaces" and "fund research by other agencies or private organizations through grants, contracts, and other arrangements".^[5]

NIOSH was intended to function as an agency at the same level as, and independent from, the Centers for Disease Control. NIOSH was initially placed within the Centers for Disease Control in order to obtain administrative support from the Centers until NIOSH was ready to assume those responsibilities for itself; the Centers, however, never relinquished control and the original intent of the Act never came to pass.^{[citation needed]}

Also, pursuant to its authority granted to it by the Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, NIOSH may "develop recommendations for mine health standards for the Mine Safety and Health Administration", "administer a medical surveillance program for miners, including chest X‑rays to detect pneumoconiosis (black lung disease) in coal miners", "conduct on-site investigations in mines similar to those authorized for general industry under the Occupational Safety and Health Act; and "test and certify personal protective equipment and hazard-measurement instruments".^[5]

NIOSH products and publications

NIOSH research covers a wide range of fields. The knowledge obtained through intramural and extramural research programs is used to develop products and publication offering innovative solutions for a wide range of work settings. Some of the publications produced by NIOSH include:

• 
  Alerts are put out by the agency to request assistance in preventing, solving, and controlling newly identified occupational hazards. They briefly present what is known about the risk for occupational injury, illness, and death.


• 
  Criteria Documents contain recommendations for the prevention of occupational diseases and injuries. These documents are submitted to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration or the Mine Safety and Health Administration for consideration in their formulation of legally binding safety and health standards.


• 
  Current Intelligence Bulletins analyze new information about occupational health and safety hazards.


• The National Agricultural Safety Database contains citations and summaries of scholarly journal articles and reports about agricultural health and safety.


• The Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation program publishes occupational fatality data that are used to publish fatality reports by specific sectors of industry and types of fatal incidents.^[6]
  


• The NIOSH Power Tools Database contains sound power levels, sound pressure levels, and vibrations data for a variety of common power tools that have been tested by NIOSH researchers.


• The NIOSH Hearing Protection Device Compendium contains attenuation information and features for commercially available earplugs, earmuffs and semi-aural insert devices (canal caps).^[7]
  


• 
  NIOSH Manual of Analytical Methods contains recommendations for collection, sampling and analysis of contaminants in the workplace and industrial hygiene samples, including air filters, biological fluids, wipes and bulks for occupationally relevant analytes.^[8]
  


• The NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards informs workers, employers, and occupational health professionals about workplace chemicals and their hazards.^[9]
  

NIOSH education and research centers

NIOSH Education and Research Centers are multidisciplinary centers supported by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for education and research in the field of occupational health. Through the centers, NIOSH supports academic degree programs and research opportunities, as well as continuing education for OSH professionals.^[10] The ERCs, distributed in regions across the United States, establish academic, labor, and industry research partnerships.^[11] The research conducted at the centers is related to the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) established by NIOSH.^[12]

Founded in 1977, NIOSH ERCs are responsible for nearly half of post-baccalaureate graduates entering occupational health and safety fields. The ERCs focus on industrial hygiene, occupational health nursing, occupational medicine, occupational safety, and other areas of specialization.^[13] At many ERCs, students in specific disciplines have their tuition paid in full and receive additional stipend money. ERCs provide a benefit to local businesses by offering reduced price assessments to local businesses.

Other history

In 2001, NIOSH was called upon to help clean up Capitol Hill buildings after the 2001 anthrax attacks.^[14]

See also

• Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program


• Health Hazard Evaluation Program


• Immediately dangerous to life or health


• National Fire Fighter Near-Miss Reporting System


• National Occupational Research Agenda


• NIOSH air filtration rating


• Occupational health psychology


• Occupational safety and health


• Prevention through design


• Recommended Exposure Limits


• SENSOR-Pesticides

References

Further reading

• 
  Roelofs, Cora (2007), Preventing Hazards at the Source, AIHA, pp. 23–31, ISBN 9781931504836
  


• 
  Zak Figura, Susannah (October 1995), "NIOSH under siege", Occupational Hazards, Penton Media, 57 (10): 161
  

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Scholia has a sponsor profile for National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

• NIOSH Homepage


• 
  Global Environmental and Occupational Health e-Library online database of environmental health and occupational health and safety training materials


• 
  NIOSH Power Tools Database online database of sound and vibrations data for various power tools


• Safe-in-Sound Excellence in Hearing Loss Prevention Award