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