Ensuring safety education and research

Scaffolding planks NIOSH plays a huge role in workplace safety and health. The agency’s research into hazards and abatement methods provides a solid foundation for OSHA in its promulgation of rules, and leads to important education for safety and health professionals.

The current administration asserts that both programs have outgrown their usefulness in a time of limited resources, and has attempted to defund the programs for years. In a FY 2013 “Cuts, Consolidations and Savings” report published by the White House Office of Management and Budget, the administration described the ERCs and the AgFF Program as “lower priority.”

The NIOSH Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Program researches hazards in that industry, and seeks to develop solutions to help prevent work-related injuries and illnesses. For the current fiscal year, AgFF received $25 million in funding.

In the requested budget for FY 2017, the White House proposed to reduce funding for both the ERCs and the AgFF programs – by 100 percent.

Two popular NIOSH programs in particular do just that. The agency has 18 Education and Research Centers that are university-based and feature NIOSH-supported academic degree programs in industrial hygiene, occupational health nursing, occupational medicine and occupational safety. These ERCs received nearly $29 million in funding in fiscal year 2016.