NIOSH, or the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, is the federal institute responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness.
According to many news reports and posts from safety industry insiders, NIOSH has been gutted and rendered incapable of completing their mission.
Let’s say you need a respirator to protect yourself from jobsite hazards. NIOSH is the agency that would test and certify that respirators work as advertised.
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Parts of NIOSH’s website seem to be down, and others have messages such as this one:
Due to the reduction in force across NIOSH, no new respirator approval applications can be accepted.
According to a post by the AFL-CIO:
Every single NIOSH research center is being closed, and the few staff remaining no longer have the resources to do their jobs.
The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), recently put out a statement, saying they appreciate the recent executive order regarding the revitalizing of the coal industry.
But, they’re also fighting to protect rules concerning silica exposure, expressing concerns about a “war on coal miners,” and declared that NIOSH layoffs and MSHA office closures could impact miner safety.
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The Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA) paused enforcement of a Silica Rule – to which the UMWA and other worker safety groups responded with a motion in federal court. The MSHA said:
MSHA understands that recent National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) restructuring may impact the Pittsburgh Mining Research Division, the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory, and the supply of approved and certified respirators and personal dust monitors. Given the unforeseen NIOSH restructuring, and other technical reasons, MSHA offers this four-month temporary pause to provide time for operators to secure necessary equipment and otherwise come into compliance.
According to news reports, there were layoffs at NIOSH’s National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL), with more expected in several weeks.
The same article says that:
Along with certifying new products, [NPPTL] lab employees regularly inspect respirator manufacturing plants and test masks that have already been approved to ensure they’re still being manufactured to NIOSH standards.
Looking at NIOSH’s website, they issued a statement a few months ago about how they revoked several approval numbers for products made by Aegle PPE. NIOSH’s notice says that Aegle “failed to maintain their quality management system, resulting in a failure to execute their quality control system.”
Who’s going to ensure approved respirators continue to meet standards or retest protective gear now?
There are jobs – such as in mining – where NIOSH-certified respirators are required for worker safety. If NIOSH can no longer do that, what happens next?
If you look at NIOSH’s social media pages, all you’ll see are worker and personal safety advocacy – tips on working in the cold, heat, with heavy equipment, and similar.
There’s a new editorial at Scientific American, written by a now-former NIOSH scientist. Here are some excerpts:
I was fired from my job as a scientist at the only federal agency dedicated to the science of workplace safety.
NIOSH is effectively gone.
Without NIOSH, workplaces will become more dangerous, and more workers will die.
Nearly one third of coal miners died of black lung disease until the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 declared that they, not the coal they mined, were the industry’s most precious resource.
With the act came a new priority to identify threats to workers and a need to understand occupational hazards and risks. In 1970 NIOSH was established to work hand in hand with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Where OSHA functions as enforcement, NIOSH is tasked with performing research, providing education and making recommendations concerning occupational health and safety standards.
The title of this post is a genuine question. What happens now? What will replace NIOSH if it is indeed “effectively gone”?
It’s worth repeating: OSHA functions as enforcement, NIOSH is tasked with performing research.
According to Safety and Health Magazine, the new restructuring will in NIOSH staff being cut by 2/3rds, affecting around 870 jobs.
According to Fox 5 NY, the job cuts will:
[leave] 9/11 first responders and survivors without essential medical resources
Many industry groups and unions seem to consider the work done and services provided by NIOSH and the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory as vital to worker safety.
How many of the fired workers and scientists have specialized know-how and experience? How many are easily replaceable and how many are not?
I have spent the past 2 weeks trying to find answers. There aren’t any. I have yet to find any news story, editorial, post, or opinion that argues any of this could be good for workers, especially miners and others for whom respiratory PPE is mandatory.
All I could find is panic about the abrupt closures, layoffs, and vague talk about restructuring.
What will the NIOSH job cuts mean for American workers? Frankly, everything points to just two words: nothing good.
Jeff
I have been following this closely since I am immunocompromised and still wear an N95 or better mask everywhere. The answer (so far as I’ve learned) for individuals is “buy from Korea or China” because they have similar levels of testing to NIOSH. Thanks to Trump’s tariffs, they’ll be considerably more expensive now.
For mine workers? Doubtful mining companies would pay the higher cost of non-US PPE, but I don’t know for sure.
Stuart
I’d stick with name brands like 3M, whether for disposable e.g. https://www.amazon.com/3M-8511PB1-Particulate-Respirator-10-Pack/dp/B0002YKBV2/?tag=toolguyd-20 or half mask, full mask, or supplied air respirators.
Bill
Ready, set, shoot, aim.
Ben
Your point stands, but I’d argue it’s been more like “Shoot, ready, shoot, aim at foot, shoot.”
ToolGuyDan
In our defense, my foot once took me to a place that, afterwards, I wish I hadn’t gone, so it’s hardly some pure, innocent foot.
Peter
Still have to wrap my head around on what is going on.
My guess is the next step is stop requiring worker protections for the mining industry and such in general.
It baffles me how we as a nation are turning our back on science.
Jay
Not to be overtly political but hard not to given the context but this is exactly what the libertarian, private equity and billionaire class wants. The simple reality is so much of the progress that has been made in the last 50 years was facilitated by the fed gov in response to demands by the public. Capitalism simply will not police itself in the way we were taught in school (at least when I went to school.)
Wayne R.
This’ll likely be deleted, but…
Diligence in protecting democracy pales in comparison with the constant pressure of capitalism.
If we were able to change just a few things, like nullifying Citizens United, shifting the tilt of the Supreme Court, and returning to a more aware & less polarized electorate, we might be able to rescue our democracy.
That, in turn, would push the Oligarchy back a few decades – until the next time…
Stuart
If you start off a comment with “this’ll likely be deleted,” then what you’re telling me is “I’m gonna knowingly flout the no-politics rules and say something controversial that’ll attract more of the same.”
Please keep focused.
It’s important to touch upon topics like the dismantling of NIOSH. A year from now, when someone says “I bought a respirator advertised as N95 so why am I still blowing dust out of my nose?” this news could help explain why.
After NIOSH, what’s next, the 17 national labs that are part of the DOE? In news this month it was determined that another 8,000 positions across the Energy Department and 500 at the
National Nuclear Security Administration are “nonessential.”
Wayne R.
I wasn’t telling you I want to flout the rules but that it’s challenging to “avoid politics” on a topic that’s inherently political. Trying to stay within the lines but…
Bonnie
It’s literally impossible to discuss the gutting of a major federal department without politics being involved. I don’t think Stuart can institute his usual rule while leaving comments open here.
Stuart
Politics – government decision process and whether one agrees with it or not
Policy – the result of decisions and actions
If we can’t discuss policies without readers diving into politics, I can always close the comments section on specific posts.
Politics: should NIOSH be restructured, what’s motivating these abrupt changes?
Policy: NIOSH is being gutted as part of recent government decisions to restructure major health and safety agencies.
STAY ON TOPIC
This isn’t the place to talk about the Supreme Court, “oligarchy,” capitalism, or whatever. Take it to social media.
ToolGuyDan
“If we can’t discuss politics without readers diving into politics”
You’re making an interesting point, but it’s a baffling one if these are the same words you intended to use.
[please delete this post after correcting the typo, if it is one]
Stuart
Sorry, *policies* without politics.
Peter
I hear you and it goes with the efforts of changing child labor laws.
To me it looks like this is all part of the agenda to dismantle labor rights and protection to get us back to the beginning of the industrial revolution in that regard..
I also wonder if politics are brought in sometimes deliberately to squish any discussion about what is happening.
In my opinion this can and should be discussed without making it about politics.
I cannot applaud Stuart enough for trying to do this here.
Stuart
Policies have impact.
This seemed important to discuss, but I put it off because I really don’t want to deal with the soapboxing and digressions into pure politics.
How will this policy impact American workers? Are there positives to it, or is all the panic among safety professionals valid?
Some safety product industries are self-regulated. There are standards for ladder load ratings, but who tests them for compliance? Is that going to happen to respiratory PPE, where workers will just have to trust manufacturers?
ToolGuyDan
Let’s be clear about “self-regulation”. They are still regulated. What this means in practice is that they’re answerable to consumers and to the FTC—the former for direct liability, the latter for false advertisement. Depending on the product, CPSC and (if imported) CBP can also apply sales restrictions.
All of this works fairly well for Werner, who have a fair bit to lose, like a headquarters building in Illinois, if their pants got sued off by an injured person. It’s less clear how it works for companies that only exist for six months on Amazon, though. And it also overlooks what groups like NIOSH bring to the field: researchers might be advancing the state-of-the-art by discovering that cam-lock mechanisms designed in a certain way tend to fail after twenty years of weathering.
Werner’s building the best ladders they can, but they don’t have a PhD metallurgist on staff. Even if they did, they’d never see an appreciable ROI on paying that kind of a salary, no matter that their ladders might still be safe in two decades and their competitors’ not. At best, they’d start building a reputation in twenty years’ time; at worst, their un-patentable fix for the issue would be instantly copied by their competitors for free. There are certain kinds of research and testing that industry simply can’t pay for, or for which the incentives don’t align (there’s a reason the crash-testing data we rely on is done by the insurance companies, not the car companies).
Stuart
The Department of Education is being dismantled. The CDC, NIOSH, and other health agencies are being dramatically “restructured” once layoffs are complete. Who’s to say the FTC and CPSC aren’t next?
CBP hasn’t done anything about batteries or electronics that don’t meet UL safety standards.
The CPSC tried to hold Amazon accountable for defective safety products – such as carbon monoxide detectors that don’t work – and Amazon sued the agency, saying they’re just a logistics provider and not a distributor.
Werner might hold themselves to high standards, but can the same be said about other companies making whatever claims they want?
Here are images from an Amazon listing for a random ladder:
They claim 330 lb max capacity. Do you trust them when they depict unsafe usage in product advertising?
If a ladder can’t hold your weight, you’ll find out really quickly, the hard way. If a respirator can’t deliver on its advertised filtration, you’ll find out when chronic disease sets in.
“Companies will just self-regulate” isn’t the solution to respirator testing and certification. Maybe UL will take it up, but what about quality checks or manufacturing site audits over time?
Here’s a top-10 resuable respirator pick from Amazon:
It’s beneficial to have a list of tested and approved product to choose from. Or do you really think that random direct import product can be trusted?
The USDA found unsanitary conditions at several Boar’s Head deli meat facilities, not just the ones that were shut down due to issues. That’s a household name. Self-regulation works until it doesn’t.
Consider influencer marketing. Even with FTC guidelines there’s very little disclosure about when products and cash change hands.
What about emerging hazards? Who else is looking into nano particle respiratory hazards? https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/centers/nanotechnology.html They have a page on 3D printing health hazards and concerns – https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/manufacturing/additive/index.html . NIOSH develops new knowledge.
ToolGuyDan
I’m concerned you may have misread—or I may have mis-stated—my intended argument. I was saying that (at least for the most part) self-regulation does *not* work, not that it does!
You’re right, those ladder ads would scare me right off. It doesn’t apply to everything, but there are some items in my household that we don’t buy from Amazon or the like, and our shorthand for these is “I want someone to sue”. If the person making it isn’t at least a little bit afraid of losing their livelihood, if not more, from selling a shoddy product? I won’t buy it. Again, this doesn’t apply to everything; I’ll buy the cheapest pooper-scooper for my dog without a second thought, but I ain’t buying something like utensils for my kitchen table from someone whose incentives don’t strictly align with my safety.
Brad
I worked at the FAA when they were implementing their planned shift toward leaving the aircraft manufacturers to “self-regulate” and inspect themselves. It did not go well, if anyone is wondering.
I frequently encounter people who complain about what they perceive as regulatory overreach, and am often baffled at the extent to which health and safety are taken for granted.
S
“To me it looks like this is all part of the agenda to dismantle labor rights and protection to get us back to the beginning of the industrial revolution in that regard…”
Yes, That part has been very well publicized as a major focus of remaking america.
But a major part that seems to be ignored is that the American workforce was in a very different place at the time.
We literally had too many people begging for factory jobs back then. Safety standards didn’t matter as much because there was still a line of new hires out every factory door.
Now, the entire globe has a birth rate crisis going on. the majority of developed countries birth rates have fallen below replacement levels.
Add to that, most developed countries have mostly shifted away from a focus on ‘widget’ production and are migrating towards educational or managerial superiority.
You can fill in the blanks at what happens to an entire nation when it’s accustomed to cheese pizza, and someone makes a new rule requiring anchovies and pineapple on every pizza…
In regards to niosh, before I stray too far from the point of this article, I think this is going to have a very negative effect on everything. It’s been a well established formula that people overall(and the companies they work within) generally only break rules that they can get away with.
Considering niosh’s stance as a research and certification arm, and not an enforcement arm, I expect exactly as Stuart, where the lines are going to blur on what products really meet the official standards, and it’s going to result in real health problems for a lot of people, some of whom will have had no idea because they were doing their part, but the company they bought the safety device from didn’t.
Ask any Maury show attendee, it is far, far worse to wear any kind of protection that is believed to work and meets approval specifications, but laughably falls short of providing any amount of protection at all.
Jim Felt
Tip of the iceberg.
What about “drinking” water? Dam inspections? FAA Controllers? OSHA safety compliance? Banking regulations? FDA oversight? “Science” itself?
We ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Saulac
Without safety recommendations and enforcements, employers will look to hire the guys that would accept the lowest safety standards. Any reasoning that employers would protect their employees because if all the employees die then the business will fail is utterly BS. Businesses do not care, they can keep hiring the next guys. People watch the guys who put up scaffolding in Asia on YT and thinking those guys be so good…balance on sticks….truth is they don’t. They are not that good. Nobody is that good. Fact is they fail and die everyday and got replaced by the next guy who die the next day. Don’t think you are badass who don’t need PPE/safety. Miners are the badest ass…and they have concerns. I’ll fight for their right, and mine.
Stuart
NIOSH doesn’t do enforcements, they’re the scientific testing and advisory worker safety agency.
Saulac
Thus the recommendation mentioned in the comment.
Stuart
OSHA and other agencies are there to enforce workplace safety standards based on scientific information from NIOSH and others.
I don’t understand what points you’re trying to make or how it relates to the post.
Jerry
I have actually worked in a factroy floor that had regular OSHA inspections. Without getting political, the vast majority of us there would have been happy with OSHA stopping by half the time. It almost seemed like they were more concerned with what they could fine the company for, than actual worker safety.
Want an example? On one visit, they fined the company saying the floor was getting too much residue on it, and was a safety hazard, and should be powerwashed 2X a day, not just at the end of the day. On their next visit, the company got fined because powerwashing the floor in the middle of the day got it wet, which was a hazard and fined them for that.
Stuart
I’ve heard that before, that some OSHA inspectors seem “out to get you” rather than truly intent on promoting safety.
Unfortunately interpretations might vary depending on the inspector, but that has nothing to do with safety science.
Rzorrok
I work for a large construction company. We work closely with safety regulators and go well beyond what is required to keep our workers safe. Do we do it because we care about our workers and their health and safety? Maybe. We also do it because workplace injuries and the related expenses are very expensive. I don’t see a lot of companies throwing out their safety rules just because a government agency isn’t there to make them do it.
Bonnie
Look at the numbers of companies cited annually for failing government safety regulations. Every single one of those companies will either gladly or naively protect their workers less.
Champs
Appreciating all of that, not every company has the same sense of self-preservation. No such thing as a “dirty” dollar until you’ve got something to lose.
ToolGuyDan
That’s a perfect example of NIOSH’s role, then. Perhaps your company doesn’t need OSHA. But if it wants to keep its workers alive and productive, should it issue N95, P95, N100, P100, or some other type of mask to people sanding concrete or drywall? Offhand, I don’t know, and even experts didn’t know fifty years ago. What’s happened in between then and now is science, and it wasn’t funded and directed by companies, it was publicly-funded answers to difficult basic health-and-safety questions that affect hundreds of millions of workers at tens of millions of jobsites.
Is there lead in your drinking water? DDT in your chicken? When was the last time you had to “point” or “gap” a spark plug? Science advances in ways that don’t really generate a profit for anyone, but improve the lot of humanity as a whole. NIOSH is part of that sort of science. You might not like what they’re studying, and they might have made mistakes in the past; those are real concerns, and should be addressed. But the idea that we don’t need things like certification and ongoing testing of respirators—PPE that’s worn by people removing asbestos!—is absurd bordering on obtuse. Who else is going to do it, and even if you found someone, how can they not have an incentive to approve anyone who pays them enough?
Mike
” I don’t see a lot of companies throwing out their safety rules just because a government agency isn’t there to make them do it.”
This the former governor and now US senator for West Virginia:
Justice attorneys say mine companies can’t pay remaining debt from health, safety fines
https://westvirginiawatch.com/2024/08/22/justice-attorneys-say-mine-companies-cant-pay-remaining-debt-from-health-safety-fines/
This is one example, but there are plenty of examples of coal mine companies that declared bankruptcy rather than fund reclamation or miners’ pensions or miners’ health. We have a long history of being ripped off by out of state businesses that “contract” with a small coal company that digs the coal, gathers up fines, goes out of business and the big company says “That’s not our fault.”
The most famous safety regulations began with some disaster (Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, Monongah Mine Disaster, Great Mill Disaster, Willow Island Disaster) leading to an outcry and federal intervention. Unions led the way. Today, you can see corners being cut in every industry, especially food safety (check how many recalls are presently in order). Businesses, some more honorable than others, will do what they can to hold down costs, and many will go too far. The problem is that somebody dies, but I’m pretty sure Tyson Foods is in no danger of going out of business.
Brad
If the regulatory environment doesn’t require companies to do X, it’s generally very difficult to hold a company liable for not doing X, whether through torts or traditional worker’s comp.
Chris
I believe if people had enough common sense to wear the propper PPE, and not do unsafe acts, it wouldn’t be an issue.
I know it’s more complicated than that, but common sense would solve 80+ workplace incidents.
Bonnie
Plenty of shitty employers also pressure workers to do something against their common sense.
Rick
I have worked In the construction industry for 30 years. It has always surprised me at how many workers do things unsafely. I have asked myself why I should care about someone else’s safety more than they seem to care for their own.
In my experience most companies have good safety programs in place but their employees choose to not follow the guidelines set up to protect them.
Jeremiah
While I understand your point this issue is somewhat separate. The dissolving of niosh makes it difficult for those who want to protect their health to know what proper PPE is. Without an independent regulatory agency it makes any safety levels irrelevant.
Chris
Right. And that’s of course the other part of the argument. Not to mention how PPE will be labeled. Because a respirator you use for applying pesticides won’t be the same respirator you need for spraying paint. Or doing drywall demolition, etc. who will provide proper education on these different classifications? Will companies no longer be required to match safety standards?
Al
Knowing the proper PPE is part of what NIOSH does. P100 is not better than P95 if there is a missing filter for organic vapors and acid gas.
If the NPPTL can’t function, then there are fewer (and eventually no) NIOSH-approved PPE that can be referenced.
PAPRs in hospitals and SCBAs for firefighters should not be left to self-certification.
Wayne R.
We’re going to have to rely on the non-crazy nations to set the pace in science & health. Every time I’m reminded that our current administration believes that illness/injury won’t exist if the cases aren’t tallied, my next thought is despair.
ps
FWIW – I didn’t vote for this administration, so my thoughts are not partisan in support. I’ve read that the cuts appear to be 60-80% of NIOSH which seems to any reasonable person to be “gutting”. But I also don’t know much about their charter, recent budget history, etc. And I’m not going down that rabbit hole too far because there’s nothing I can do to change it. *I already voted not to be on this path*.
The flip side is that I’ve spoken to two friends who work at NASA and the Fed, both higher level, both MISERABLE. Both say it is crazy to deal with the cuts…and then offer “there is so much government waste it isn’t funny”. I almost fell over when I heard this as I didn’t expect it at all. They are telling us that there is substantial waste. That also can’t go on forever.
Obama tried to cut waste with professionalism and dignity and ran into the buzz saw. That waste continues today. (30% of Medicare spending is apparently fraudulent?) If you work in corporate America you know the same thing goes on here until the cuts just get laid down…and usually it’s super painful.
I’m not a fan of the end result always justifying the means – and the means lately sure seem out of control – but perhaps there will be a silver lining of some sort at the end? Bad endings are easy to imagine but maybe it won’t uniformly so. We will see
Mike
I strongly suggest that you do more research before throwing out a soundbite like “30% of Medicare spending is apparently fraudulent?” Whether Medicare Part A, Medicare Advantage, or Part D, improper payments is well below 10%.
https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/medicare-program-integrity-and-efforts-to-root-out-improper-payments-fraud-waste-and-abuse/
Sometimes it’s worth it to go down those rabbit holes.
Perry
Plus, indiscriminate cuts do nothing to fix it. If you have a chicken that flies out of the coop, you clip its wings. Saying “we need to cut off 10% of the chicken, start at the bottom” just makes it so the chicken can’t walk.
blocky
I think nothing will change immediately. Most companies will maintain standards for a time and continue to buy products built to spec, but it will eventually be harder to trust those products meet spec…
leaving room for a privately owned or multi-lateral industry-established certifications. There is precedent for this – UL is a privately held operation, not a government-established standard.
3M has an interest in maintaining the PPE market — they might have to restructure their certifications to continue to manufacture collaboratively with plants in other countries.
I think we won’t see any broad push to elevate standards, and I think we’ll be even slower to acknowledge new hazards… Companies that don’t like their own findings will continue to bury them ala Exxon/ Philip Morris.
S
But costs have a cost as well.
While a lot of people turn to 3M for PPE, if every other brand starts selling marked P100 masks(99.7% filtering. And strongly oil-resistant) that are actually N95(95% and no oil resistance at all), they can undercut the entire industry on final cost by a significant and easy margin, likely while marking it up somewhat as well.
Any reputable filter company is left holding the bag on why their products are 5-10 times more expensive for the “same thing”.
And then the eager beaver ‘New Middle Manager’ comes into any random company that uses that PPE, takes one look at their PPE cost list, and starts seeing big numbers of dollars they can ‘save’ the company by going with the P100-that’s-really-toilet-paper-N5 masks.
Matt_T
I guess the Chapter 7 Liquidation in 2023 might have affected Aegles Quality Management System LOL.
Buying ANSI/ISO/whoever rated PPE from reputable sources seems to work just fine for everything else. There’s no need for a government agency to approve respirators. Especially one willing to approve dust masks!!
scott taylor
Based on how litigiuos we are as a society I figure there will be plenty of opportunities for companies like UL etc. to step into the certification space. Too much exposure for large companies with deep pockets to let it go away. Small companies will make cost benefit choices that are in line with owner desires, wants, needs, etc. Class action lawsuits scare fortune 500 companies, companies of less than 50 not so much. Much of this is due to the ability of a lawyer to make 10s of millions versus 100s of thousands by taking class action suits versus single cases. More lawyers are willing to use millions to make 10s of millions, than are to spend hundreds of thousands to make hundreds of thousands.
Perry
Do you know how many companies use UL stamping without permission? Also, there have been cases against UL by employees and other parties concerning safety and legitimacy. Ome case was just settled with the NLRB on april 4th. A private entity isn’t always the best course to replace government regulation, especially when it come to safety
ChrisM
What’s to stop reputable companies from continuing to make products that conform to NIOSH standards? The standards and test procedures are already in place. Companies making these products already know how to produce them. The recommendations as to what products protect against which contaminants are readily available.
With the rare exception of some newly formed man made compound, how much of the science being done was truly improving safety and how much was just repetitive? How many of the approvals were pencil whipped? I’m not claiming to have any insight into NIOSH. These are just the questions that come to mind when its claimed our lives are in danger without the existence of some govt agency.
Stuart
Companies sometimes make changes in materials selection or sourcing. Even if they don’t intend to lower quality or performance levels, it does happen. There’s a non-zero chance of it happening again.
In a general sense, have companies lowered their quality standards even when inspected by regulatory bodies? The answer is YES. Look at Boar’s Head. Inspections turned up mold, slime, and insect contaminations. People died from tainted food.
Has NIOSH revoked approvals? YES. Even if we disregard retesting or site audits, what about the vetting of brand new to market products?
There are always emerging hazards. It’s my understanding that NIOSH research helped inform OSHA rules that went into effect a few years ago.
NIOSH conducts research into wildfire smoke hazards and protection standards. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/outdoor-workers/about/wildfire-smoke.html
NoDak Farming
I’ll speak to the mentions of current policies to dismantle or gut federal departments and agencies. Especially when it comes to science based positions, and professional experts in their fields. It’s surprising as to how close and personal these policies can be. Effecting people that we know and interact with. My sister has a masters degree, has worked for the federal government for at least 20 years, and has an untold amount of pride in what she does. She was forced to fire 25 employees, and is now concerned for her own job.
When some of these experts and scientists are forced to leave, a careers worth of knowledge often leaves with them. The lasting effect of some of these policies, will last for years.
Stuart
That last part is what worries me.
A reader pointed out a magazine article that claims the new Milwaukee Kevlar shears are made of Kevlar. The author doesn’t realize they’re for cutting Kevlar like how poultry shears aren’t made from chicken.
How will NIOSH be restructured after most of their talent has been told to take a hike?
S
And very importantly, the people remaining to do the work have a very different negative attitude about the work they have been tasked with doing.
It goes down another whole social economics rabbit hole of how effected and remaining employees are even less individually effective than they were before…
Scott K
Hopefully other organizations like CEN / EU-OSHA will help fill the void. Is it too optimistic to hope that these NIOSH cuts may have been unintentional and there will be a strong enough backlash to reverse them? Cynically, I hope this isn’t a stupid political anti-mask related response to Covid.
Eric
$36,000,000,000,000.00. Got to come from somewhere, because your taxes ain’t covering it.
Perry
No, but cutting the expenditures with a scalpel will help a lot more than using a chainsaw in the long run. Haphazardly firing people en masse is detrimental to the knowledge base of each dept., which is its value. Thats why some departments have had to quickly try to re-hire some of those cut.
ToolGuyDan
That’s the debt, not the deficit. In any event, NIOSH’s 2003 budget was just over $363 million, which sounds like a lot, but you’d have to cut NIOSH for 100,000 years to pay off the debt.
I prefer to divide big numbers by people. There are approximately 340 million people in the U.S., so each of us paid, on average, about a dollar for the NIOSH last year. Meanwhile, each American owes just under $106,000 as their share of the national debt. Is that a lot? Sure. But two observations;
1) it’s not *that* much. Most people have bigger mortgages than that.
2) when you owe $100k, saving $1 is not the key to freeing yourself from debt. The Federal budget this year is just under $7 trillion, or roughly $20,500 per person. Surely there are some bigger targets than that $1; sure, every dollar counts, but especially considering that Social Security and Medicaid are going to have to pay for those permanently-injured workers’ treatment and pensions when their non-NIOSH PPE fails, is it really even a savings at all?
Eric
Agree with most of this. However, for FY 2022 (latest could find) there were 153.8 million filers. Also I pay down my mortgage I’m not adding to it every year. Fact of the matter is the government is far too large and spends way too much. Just go back to the 2019 budget. We’d all be better off.
DML
Maybe this is potentially an area where Underwriters Laboratories (UL), or a similar entity, could step in to fill a void? From my understanding, UL is a private entity that could potentially perform the same/similar functions more effectively and/or more efficiently than government. Such an entity could work with industry and employee groups to set standards, perform testing, and provide certifications. Any entity is subject to compromise, including government workers/agencies. So, the only way to build a lasting business is to adopt a business model that requires the unwavering integrity necessary to establish reputation over time…something UL has largely achieved as far as I can tell.
Rx9
I imagine that private testing groups like Underwriter’s Laboratory will pick up the slack. If there’s a demand for something, someone will build a company to cash in on that demand.
JJ
I don’t see any upside for workers who wear PPE. There may be some cost saving for employers who buy PPE. I guess it will save taxpayers a few cents to not fund NIOSH. Hard to see who wins here.
If the thinking is that private companies will fill this gap, get ready for business insider and popular mechanics listicles about “The Best Respirators for 2025!”
JML
Perhaps this primer will help (I’m a law professor).
Congress passes laws (such as the statutes establishing OSHA and NIOSH). They’re effective when signed by the President (at the time of passage). Those agencies are charged by the statute with drafting and adopting detailed regulations (after public comment periods), which implement Congressional mandates and those regulations have the force of law. Congress has the power of the purse and appropriates funds for agencies. The President does not have the power under the Constitution and Supreme Court decisions to decide to abolish agencies or not fund them. So much of what we’ve heard in the news since January ignores these fundamental rules (and Congress is, unfortunately, not exercising their Constitutionally-mandated powers. The courts may step in, but the courts do not have independent enforcement authority. This is why we are facing several Constitutional crises. OSHA and NIOSH are only one example of what’s happening.
Jim Felt
Or put yet another way: “May you live in interesting times”…
Though I certainly prefer a Monte Python variation over this near dystopian moment.
Charles
I worked for the department of the army, navy, coast guard, and gsa. 14 years. Walked away in 2002 disgusted how inefficient and wasteful the government is! Working for the gsa they were unhappy that we weren’t speening enough money so they outsourced the building to contractors and the budget went up six fold and with zero service to the tenants! Lazy coffee drinking bums for the most part. Good riddance to them! I’ll protect myself and keep my money in my pocket. Best career decision I ever made leaving that bag of crap.
Ray
Wait a minute, did I see, way up at the top, Stewart say there’s a no politics rule? Of course that means my politics are not politics, just yours.
Rog
You don’t have to agree with it but, this *is* Stuart’s site so he sets the rules.
Stuart
Policy ≠ politics.
For example:
Politics: should RFK unilaterally decide to phase out artificial food coloring?
Policy: petroleum-based and other synthetic food dyes are going to be phased out.
You’ve complained about this before. You’re welcome to contribute to the discussion, but instead you chose to complain that such a discussion even exists.
Say your piece stay on topic. I’ll let you know if you go too far into politics.
I say “no politics” because a lot of folks go completely off the rails and start proselytizing. This happens every time. We’re talking about NIOSH; there’s no reason to bring up your views on immigration, capitalism, or “DEI.”
OldDominionDIYer
NIOSH will survive, maybe under a new name if reorganized but the world isn’t coming to an end over this. Yes Industry/company’s will need to potentially look to update standards to include other organizations similar to NIOSH for their PPE selections but NIOSH is not the only organization in the world doing this research. There is MASSIVE waste and fraud in the Govt, in every sector and area and it needs to be stopped, dismantled and rebuilt sparingly under new management. I personally know federal employee’s who think and act like they’re entitled and that is not a good thing since they have (until now) zero incentive to improve and root out fraud, corruption and waste. We cannot sustain this behavior over the long run. I’m all for it! Cut more and faster!
Stuart
But how long will it take before it’s equally effective? With scientists, directors, and others included in the massive layoffs, what know-how remains?
Even if there’s massive waste and fraud, shouldn’t that have been cut out with a scalpel?
Isn’t it the whole point of all the new tariffs to bring manufacturing back to the US? How can we have the goal of boosting US manufacturing if we’re okay outsourcing safety science? “Let’s leave it to other countries who can do it cheaper” rendered the country incapable of manufacturing modern technologies.
Science and safety are the meat of knowledge. Fraud and waste? Trim the fat, leave the meat.
eddiesky
While many fail to see through the smoke and mirrors, the current admin is looking at how to privatize on data that was provide “by” the government. So if a government agency spent funds certifying a process or research/data (see NOAA) that could benefit the very tax payers, its now a target to “privatize” and profit off.
Expect boaters, fishermen, campers, travelers, farmers, etc, to be paying for Accuweather ™ products that the info was FREE and saved lives. Not anymore.
Same now with NIOSH research and its results used by OSHA and product companies.
You are witness to the breaking and grifting (stock market manipulation via tariffs and Truth spewing) of services and more to the US citizen. Companies are already passing the tariff buck. Wait till all the shipping comes in by May (freighters enroute) with goods either turned away, or left unpaid, or paid and companies spike prices, or companies file chapter 7 or 11. Christmas isn’t going to be cheap. Or healthy.
(3M products have never let me down. I keep extra filters, along with N100 and N95 masks ever since Covid. Also looking into a full face for painting and external pack for welding/grinding. Would be nice for a review on PPE in a workshop options…)
Stuart
Please stay on topic. NO POLITICS.
Mike (the other one)
Companies will not self-regulate. They have to be forced to do so. Large corporations view workers as disposable resources.
Otherwise, we have children working in factories, people dying to hazardous material exposure, and workers getting maimed by machinery with no safety precautions.
Safety codes are written in blood.
Pail C.
There are or more specifically were two sets of standards for circuit breakers. The ones used residentially and in most industrial plants typically follow UL standard 489. However larger equipment for decades followed the ANSI C series. Unlike UL there is no corresponding 3rd party testing lab necessarily. A utility for instance is largely responsible for organizing their own testing. Utilities do not only factory testing but also testing at installation and every 1-3 years of their breakers. This is required by NERC standards. So the lack of a “UL for ANSI” was never an issue for them.
When NIST replaced ASTM and ANSI the old standards were largely abandoned and there has been a slow uptake by others. ASTM and ANSI basically lended their names to various standards but didn’t write them. Fin response UL has taken over the old ANSI breaker standards and put them in UL 1077.
So at some point someone like UL or NEMA or similar will take over updating the standard.
Going a step further testing labs are similar. UL Labs will only test to UL standards. Others don’t care. Intertek and CSA as examples will basically test to ANY standard. We send out oil samples for testing at work all the time to a lab that tests to the standards we specify. Labs generally conform to (and are inspected to either ISO 9000 or the tougher ISO 14000 series standards. UL and CSA by the way are definitely private companies although both have fairly close relations with government regulators, particularly CSA in Canada. That’s as opposed to say NEMA and NFPA that are nonprofits that promote standards but don’t do actual testing.
A particularly interesting and relevant testing agency is Intertek (ETL). They do third party testing just like any of the others I mentioned. They will even test to basically any standard. But ETL will also do “custom” work. For instance if someone modified a piece of electrical equipment the original stickers are now invalid. However Intertek will come in and inspect and revalidate the equipment (if possible) and apply a field sticker which satisfies NEC Code compliance.
Under ISO procedures companies basically pay for 3rd party audits to verify they are in compliance with the standards they say they’re following. So if say 3M does testing in house to NIOSH standards their ISO inspection shows they are doing what they say. Alternatively they can pay a third party lab (NRTL) to take samples and verify they meet specifications. The only really necessary step to claim NIOSH certification is for NIOSH to publish a list of nationally recognized testing labs just as OSHA currently does for their regulations. The big difference is that ISO is private. For instance my employer onky has ISO 9000 compliance because automotive customers require it. It is completely voluntary. Third party labs like UL are mandatory under NEC Code. ISO is also largely a documentation standard unlike NRTLs that do independent testing.
But all this takes time to work through the system.