Sandra J. Domeracki is a clinical professor in the Department of Community Health Systems at the University of California School of Nursing, San Francisco. Opinions are typical of the author.
On April 1, thousands of health and human services workers came to work to find the identification badges that did not let them enter the workplace.
They were on administrative leave with a set letter set for June 2. Employees of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health were among those affected; 85% of this template was eliminated.
As a practicing nurse who works in the field of occupational health for three decades and teaching new NP in this role for two decades, I have seen and experienced first hand the power that Niosh has to maintain the workers of our healthy and safe nation.
Recently, the date of completion was changed to June 30. Niosh has been annihilated. Workers’ safety is in danger if we are not talking now.
Why does this matter?
There are More than 160 million workers In the US, according to the Office of Labor Statistics. That is, about 48% of the population. Workers spend most of their time at work, doing combinations of activities, such as prolonged, kneeling prolonged, heavy lifting and exposed to toxins, sometimes with fatal results. In 2023, 5,283 workers died at work, according to BLS data.
Niosh is an agency created and funded by Congress. When he started as part of the Occupational Health and Safety Act in 1970 about 1,400 employees in all USAccording to the American Industrial Hygiene Association.
It Agency’s budget was only $ 363 million The 2024 fiscal year, reported the magazine Safety + Health. This is a little over two dollars per year per United States worker.
Niosh staff has been doing some of the most important public health and health work in the United States for more than 50 years, Niosh has been an essential resource for workers to help ensure their health and safety in many essential jobs.
For example, Niosh inspects and certifies the respirators and other personal protection equipment that saves countless lives from construction workers. Nosh’s staff helps prevent injuries and diseases and to investigate dangerous situations that workers have, such as falls and collapses of trenches. It studies the effects on exposure of workers to toxins such as the silica.
The knowledge, experience and resources it provides to construction workers to understand how to protect. But with recent cuts, construction workers and employers have a good chance of losing the development, tests and evaluation of the future PPE that is updated and certified.
Research and strategies to prevent the overdose of opioid and suicide and loss of life due to falls will not exist. All this involves an increase in financial costs for industry and workers.
As a doctoral student, my work focuses on construction workers. Anecdote, I can share findings in my expert studies that indicate that productivity is focus instead of workers ‘safety in the United States, while in Europe and Canada, workers’ safety is the priority.
For workers, their quality of life, family life and financial well -being are affected by the injuries and exhibitions that support the jobs. This illustrates the continuous need for continuous improvement in the PPE, the safer work processes and the updated tools, with which Niosh and his staff are the only agency that can help us.
What is below?
Although it was announced on May 14 that 328 Niosh employees They have returned to work, there are about 600 who did not, reported NPR.
We have until June to answer the question “What’s below?”
The unions, professional organizations, centers that carry out research funded by Niosh and more have written letters to President Donald Trump and are taking legal actions to save Niosh.
If we want to do again in the United States, does this not apply to all employees in the United States? We must act now for this vision to come true. I challenge you to take this next step now for the safety and safety of workers.
