The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has a lot of friends. In a recent letter, more than 150 organizations that make up the “Friends of NIOSH” urged congressional leaders to disregard President Obama’s proposed elimination (in his FY 2015 budget) of NIOSH's Education and Research Centers (ERCs) and Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Program and maintain funding for them, as well as for other programs.
The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), AIHA local sections, and other organizations in the industrial hygiene profession make up more than 30 signatures accompanying the letter.
Here is the letter the Friends sent to Chairman Tom Harkin and Ranking Member Jerry Moran; Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on on Labor, HHS, Education:
Dear Chairman Harkin and Ranking Member Moran:
As Congress considers funding priorities for Fiscal Year 2015, the Friends of NIOSH strongly urges you to include at least the Fiscal Year 2014 program level of $332.86 million for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). NIOSH is the primary federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related illness and injury. NIOSH provides national and world leadership to avert workplace illness, injury, disability, and death by gathering information, conducting scientific research, and translating this knowledge into products and services. NIOSH supports programs in every state to improve the health and safety of workers.
The Friends of NIOSH is a coalition of industry, labor, professional, education and scientific organizations that are dedicated to research and prevention of occupational injuries and illness and committed to the training of occupational health and safety professionals. Our broad coalition of stakeholders understands the value of research, education and occupational illness prevention from many perspectives, including the labor, academic and business communities. It is with our shared support for occupational research, education and prevention programs that we urge you to preserve funding for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
The health and safety of the American workforce is a shared goal of all of our organizations. Many of our members are employed in high risk occupations. Rather than accept that working requires individuals to place their health and well being at risk, we believe strongly that all occupations can be made safer through research, education and training.
NIOSH understands these needs and has developed programs like the Education and Research Centers (ERCs) and the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Program (AFF) to meet the needs of the American work force. The elimination of these NIOSH supported programs as proposed in the President's fiscal 2015 budget, would limit the ability of workers to avoid exposures that can result in injury or illnesses, push back improved working conditions, eliminate occupational safety and health educational services to over 10,000 U.S. businesses, and ultimately raise health care costs.
In order to maintain the health and safety of the American workforce, we ask that you include at least the Fiscal Year 2014 level of funding for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in the Fiscal Year 2015 Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations bill. Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
1. AgriSafe Network, Inc.
2. Agri-Services Agency LLC
3. Agriwellness, Inc.
4. Agricultural Safety and Health Council of America
5. Air Force Institute of Technology, Graduate School of Engineering and Management
6. Alabama Local Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association
7. American Association of Occupational Health Nurses (AAOHN)
8. American Board of Industrial Hygiene
9. American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM)
10. American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH?)
11. American Industrial Hygiene Association
12. American Industrial Hygiene Association – Carolinas Section
13. American Industrial Hygiene Association – Chicago Section
14. American Industrial Hygiene Association, Kentuckiana local section
15. American Industrial Hygiene Association - Sabine Neches Section
16. American Industrial Hygiene Association Student Chapter at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
17. American Nurses Association
18. American Public Health Association
19. American Society of Safety Engineers
20. American Thoracic Society
21. Arkansas Farm Bureau
22. Arkansas Timber Producers Association
23. Association of Occupational Health Professionals in Healthcare (AOHP)
24. Axion Health, Inc.
25. California State Association of Occupational Health Nurses
26. California Central Coast Association of Occupational Health Nurses (CCCAOHN)
27. California El Camino Real Association of Occupational Health Nurses (CECRAOHN)
28. California Harbor Area Association of Occupational Health Nurses
29. California Industrial Hygiene Council
30. Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, University of California, Irvine
31. Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, University of California, Los Angeles
32. Center For Worker Health and Environment, Colorado School of Public Health
33. Central Ohio Local Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association
34. Cincinnati Health Department
35. Colorado Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers
36. Colorado Livestock Association
37. Colorado School of Public Health Occupational Medicine Residency
38. Colorado State University
39. Culinary Health Fund
40. Deep South Center for Occupational Health and Safety
41. Delaware Local Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association
42. Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
43. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Colorado School of Public Health
44. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington
45. Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham
46. Dimensions in Occupational Health and Safety, Inc.
47. Environmental and Occupational Medicine and Epidemiology Program of the Harvard School of Public Health
48. Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute
49. Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences Department, Colorado State University
50. Environmental Defense Fund
51. Environmental, Health, Safety and Sustainability Consulting (EORM)
52. The Environmental Management Institute
53. Ergonomic Technologies Corp
54. ESI2001
55. Farm Safety For Just Kids
56. Farmworker Justice
57. Florida Local Section, American Industrial Hygiene Association
58. Grain Handling Safety Coalition (GHSC)
59. Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health and Safety
60. Greater Cincinnati Occupational Health Center
61. Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, University of Washington
62. Harvard Education and Research Center
63. Health Links Colorado
64. Heartland Center for Occupational Health and Safety
65. High Plains Intermountain Center for Agricultural Health and Safety
66. Hubble Foundation
67. Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES)
68. Mount Sinai Selikoff Centers for Occupational Health
69. Illinois Farm Bureau
70. Industrial Health Council
71. International Association of Fire Chiefs
72. International Association of Fire Fighters
73. International Chemical Workers Union Council (ICWUC)
74. inXsol, LLC - eLearning, Simulations, and Edutainment
75. Iowa/Illinois American Industrial Hygiene Association Local Section
76. JK, Inc.
77. Laboratory for Occupational Immunotoxicology, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus
78. Lehigh Valley Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association
79. Martin Luther King County Labor Council
80. MediSHARE Environmental Health & Safety Services
81. Metropolitan New York Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association
82. Metropolitan Washington Association of Occupational Health Nurses
83. Mid-America Local Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association
84. Mid-South Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association
85. Middle Tennessee Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association
86. Midwest Consortium for Hazardous Waste Worker Training
87. Migrant Clinicians Network
88. Minnesota Association of Occupational Health Nurses
89. Monte Vista Dairy
90. Mount Sinai Selikoff Centers for Occupational Health
91. Mountain and Plains Education and Research Center
92. National Center for Farmworker Health, Inc.
93. National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Safety and Health
94. National Education Center for Agricultural Safety (NECAS)
95. National Farm Medicine Center
96. National Farmers Union
97. National Safety Council
98. National Volunteer Fire Council
99. Navistar
100. New Solutions, A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy
101. New York and New Jersey Education and Research Center
102. The New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health
103. New York Farm Bureau
104. Northwest Laborer-Employers Training Trust Fund
105. North Carolina Association of Occupational Health Nurses
106. North Carolina Occupational Safety and Health and Education and Research Center
107. Northeast Iowa Association of Occupational Health Nurses
108. Northeast Ohio Chapter of the American Industrial Hygiene Association
109. Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety Education and Research Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago
110. Occupational Medicine Residency Program of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
111. Occupational and Environmental Medicine Residency Program, University of California, Irvine
112. Occupational and Environmental Medicine Residency Program, University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus
113. Off Soundings LLC
114. Office of Public Health Practice, Rutgers School of Public Health
115. Ohio Valley Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association
116. Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center
117. Pacific Northwest Section, American Industrial Hygiene Association
118. Pennsylvania Occupational and Environmental Medicine Society
119. Philadelphia Section, American Industrial Hygiene Association
120. Pinnacol Assurance
121. Puget Sound Shipbuilders Association (PSSA)
122. Rio Grande Local Section, American Industrial Hygiene Association
123. Rocky Mountain Academy of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Inc.
124. Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (RMCOEH)
125. Rocky Mountain Local Section, American Industrial Hygiene Association
126. School of Health Sciences, Purdue University, Indiana
127. Seattle Fishermen’s Memorial
128. Seneca Valley Maryland Association of Occupational Health Nurses
129. Southern California Association of Occupational Health Nurses
130. Southern California Education and Research Center, University of California
131. Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health
132. St. Louis Local Section, American Industrial Hygiene Association
133. Sunshine Education and Research Center at the University of South Florida
134. Tarheel Chapter, Association of Occupational Health Nurses (NCAOHN)
135. Tennessee Valley Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association
136. Tidewater Local Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association
137. University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health
138. University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing
139. University of California Northern California Center for Occupational and Environmental Health
140. University of Cincinnati Education and Research Center
141. University of Cincinnati Student Chapter, American Association of Aerosol Research
142. University of Cincinnati Student Chapter, American Industrial Hygiene Association
143. University of Cincinnati Student Section of the American Society of Safety Engineers
144. University of Iowa College of Public Health
145. University of Michigan Center for Occupational Health and Safety Engineering
146. University of Michigan School of Nursing
147. University of Minnesota, Midwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety (MCOHS) Education and Research Center (ERC)
148. University of Washington School of Public Health
149. Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center
150. Upper Midwest Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association
151. USW local 9231
152. Utah Association Of Occupational Health Nurses (UAOHN)
153. Virginia State Association of Occupational Health Nurses
154. Western Michigan Industrial Hygiene Society
155. Western Occupational & Environmental Medical Association (WOEMA)
156. Western New York Association of Occupational Health Nurses
157. Worksafe, Inc.
158. Worksafe Iowa
159. Yuma Pacific Southwest Local Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association
