Latest news with #NIOSH
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Business
- Yahoo
NIOSH head: Workers back at black lung program, efforts continue to restore services cut by DOGE
The NIOSH Coal Worker's Health Surveillance Program offered periodic black lung screenings at no cost to coal miners in the U.S. (NIOSH photo) A certification was entered in federal court this week proving that at least 50 employees at the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety's Respiratory Health Division have had their terminations rescinded, meeting requirements set in a court order last month. Those returning to work include 'most' employees who worked within the RHD before April 1, which is when reduction in force notices were issued throughout multiple NIOSH divisions as a result of the new federal Department of Government Efficiency's cost-saving measures. Many of those workers were slated to be terminated on Monday, the same day NIOSH director John J. Howard signed and filed the certification in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. The certification was entered to meet requirements in a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Irene Berger last month. That injunction came from a class action lawsuit filed on April 7 against the federal government and led by Harry Wiley, a Raleigh County coal miner. In May, Wiley's attorneys argued in a hearing that the closure of the CWHSP by DOGE meant responsibilities mandated by congress for coal worker health and safety were illegally going undone, robbing Wiley and other coal miners of their hard-fought rights. The federal government argued that the stoppage at the CWHSP and other NIOSH divisions was only temporary as the federal Department of Health and Human Services worked through a 'reorganization.' Berger ruled in favor of Wiley and the other coal miners. She ordered that all RHD employees return to work and that the division — including the CWHSP — continue all work congressionally mandated by the federal Mine Safety and Health Act. If there are future moves to 'reorganize' the agency, Berger ordered that there must be 'no pause, stoppage, or gap in the protections and services mandated to be performed by the RHD.' That work includes providing free black lung screenings and certifying black lung x-ray results for miners like Wiley who have been diagnosed with black lung disease so they can exercise their Part 90 rights. Part 90 allows miners who have black lung to be transferred to a different, less dusty part of a coal mine without facing repercussions from their employers. NIOSH is the only agency that can certify test results for miners to receive a Part 90 transfer. In the certification declaration on Monday, Howard said that the agency is once again accepting test results necessary to certify Part 90 transfer requests. But other work, according to the certification declaration, has yet to return completely. Howard wrote that NIOSH was 'working through' the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the federal DHHS to 'fully restore' several of the RHD's functions. Those functions include reestablishing contracts necessary for RHD to offer, review and manage chest x-rays through its mobile clinic; promoting events to alert miners of the free testing opportunities and ensuring funding can be accessed and spent for the agency to meet its requirements. On Tuesday, according to WV MetroNews, Sam Petsonk — one of several attorneys representing the miners in the case — told 'Talk of the Town' on WAJR Radio that it's critical for all CWHSP services to return as soon as possible. 'They say they're trying. They say that they understand the court has ordered them to do this, but they have not restored the X-ray reading programs, the mobile unit that travels around the coal mines,' Petsonk said. '… We are experiencing hundreds of layoffs across the mining industry right now. This is just the moment where miners often look to see what kind of lung damage they have so that they can take stock before they find their next job. And we really need these programs right now, and we don't have them.' The CDC estimates that about 20% of coal miners in Central Appalachia are suffering from black lung — the highest rate detected in more than 25 years. One in 20 of the region's coal miners are living with the most severe form of the condition. And the resurgence of black lung is hitting coal miners at younger ages than ever before. This is due to miners, because of a lack of easily accessible coal, being forced to dig through more silica-rich sandstone than their predecessors in order to reach what little coal remains. While the RHD employees are back to work, other fights are continuing against the federal government's cuts. Workers and those affected by the services they provide have been decrying the cuts for weeks now, saying they'll leave people in certain industries — including mining, firefighting and more — vulnerable to preventable accidents and illnesses. Some of these fights, like that for the CWHSP, have already proven successful. Last week, following continued pushback from black lung organizations and other mining advocates, the Trump administration reversed its plan to close 34 Mine Safety and Health Administration offices nationwide. Those offices employ mine inspectors whose jobs are to ensure that coal mine operators are meeting industry standards known to lower the risks of accidents and injuries for coal miners. But other battles have proven more difficult. In Pennsylvania, workers at the Pittsburgh-based Mining Research Division within NIOSH — which studies the best ways to prevent injuries, illnesses and death in coal mines — are still slated to be terminated. Several of the services that are now going undone at NIOSH as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are congressionally mandated through the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. Multiple labor unions — including the United Mine Workers of America — filed suit on May 14 against DHHS and the federal government. They're using similar arguments to Wiley's attorneys, which proved successful in getting services started back up: since the cuts are stopping work that is required by Congress, they say, they are illegal and should be reversed.
Scientific American
7 hours ago
- Business
- Scientific American
Government Layoffs Could Make It Easier to Scrap Heat Safety Rules
CLIMATEWIRE | When federal regulators were crafting a first-ever proposal to protect workers from extreme heat, they relied on government health experts who had been working on the deadly effects of high temperatures for years. Now that entire team is gone due to President Donald Trump's personnel purges. It comes ahead of summertime heat waves that are intensifying because of climate change, raising the stakes for the 2024 draft heat rule that took decades to propose and whose fate now rests in the hands of an administration that is eviscerating climate programs. Extreme heat kills more U.S. residents annually than all other disasters. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. The heat experts have been fired, placed on leave or forced out at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, an agency within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency, called NIOSH, was the first one to sound the alarm on the dangers that heat poses to workers. It recommended safety regulations in 1975, decades before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed the nation's first heat rule last year. The entire heat team at NIOSH was pushed out of the agency this spring, along with hundreds of experts who were studying other issues, as part of a massive reorganization at the Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The layoffs, which take effect this week, come as climate change supercharges temperatures, blanketing the nation in suffocating heat every summer. The personnel purge could also hamstring OSHA at the Department of Labor, as the agency considers whether to move forward with finalizing the heat rule under Trump or ditch it. Preserving it promises to be harder without the heat experts. 'The ability to reach out to experts and work together and solve problems and keep people safe in an efficient manner — that's not going to be possible when you have an agency turned into Swiss cheese,' said Doug Parker, who led OSHA during the Biden administration. Lawsuits have brought back some NIOSH staffers who work mostly on coal mining and firefighting projects, or who test respirators and other personal protective equipment. Some of them have heat expertise in those industries. But most NIOSH heat experts — including those who work with the farming and construction sectors, which see the most heat-related deaths, and those who specifically examine heat as a hazard — have not returned to their jobs. The agency has also stopped all public communications on heat, just before summer threatens to bring suffocating temperatures. In the past, the agency would use social media campaigns and in-person presentations with employers to raise awareness about the dangers of heat. None of that has happened. Its social media accounts have been silent since April 1, when HHS told its workforce of the layoffs. 'If it stays the way it is right now, no one is going to be doing heat,' said one NIOSH worker who came back to the agency after being laid off and was granted anonymity to speak frankly. 'Very open line of communication' Congress created NIOSH in 1970 — by passing the same law that enacted OSHA — to 'develop and establish' safety standard recommendations for regulators. NIOSH had the experts, and OSHA had the regulators. In the 50 years since the agency initially advocated for a heat safety standard, it has made similar recommendations two other times, most recently in 2016. Because NIOSH has been at the forefront of identifying heat as a danger to workers, its experts have also been the preeminent researchers on the issue. The agency has conducted research into how electrolyte drinks compare to water when rehydrating workers and how protective equipment can make workers hotter than if they were only exposed to ambient air. It has also helped determine how to measure what heat truly feels like in work environments. When OSHA finally proposed national heat protections last summer, it cited its sister agency's work more than 250 times. The regulation would require employers to provide water and rest breaks to workers when heat rises above 80 degrees and paid rest breaks when temperatures exceed 90 degrees. 'We had a very open line of communication to discuss any questions they had while working on the regulation,' said one NIOSH worker who was laid off and was granted anonymity to speak frankly. Almost every aspect of the proposed rule has a citation that leads back to NIOSH, from the definitions of heat stress, to the explanation of how heat affects the human body, to a description about how hydration helps prevent heat-related dangers. 'We really fostered a strong relationship with NIOSH and it was at a peak level, so it is a tragedy what has happened,' said Parker, the former OSHA leader. As the layoffs take effect this week, it could complicate OSHA's consideration of the heat rule. In mid-June, the agency is scheduled to hold a weekslong hearing to let the public weigh in on the draft regulation. Normally, when worker advocates and industry representatives testify at OSHA hearings, agency staff is able to ask follow-up questions that can help shape the outcome. It's unclear if NIOSH experts — those who still have jobs — will testify at the hearing. Neither HHS nor the CDC responded to questions about expert testimony. HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard said Kennedy "has been working hard to ensure that the critical functions under NIOSH remain intact." "The Trump administration is committed to supporting coal miners and firefighters, and under the secretary's leadership, NIOSH's essential services will continue as HHS streamlines its operations," she said. "Ensuring the health and safety of our workforce remains a top priority for the department." 'They are neutral' Parker said holding a public hearing, and continuing the heat rulemaking, without NIOSH experts would be like prosecutors trying to convict a murderer without having the testimony of a medical examiner. 'It's like going to trial without your expert witness,' he said. 'They are neutral; they help review not only the content of the rule, but the comments of other advocates and industries. It's a well you can go to again and again.' Jordan Barab, former deputy assistant secretary of OSHA during the Obama administration, said NIOSH is a helpful resource when industry and worker groups provide conflicting information. The laws governing OSHA say it can only issue rules to protect workers that are also practical and cost-effective for employers, which means the agency has to be able to justify every aspect of a regulation. Most end up in court. 'If they have two opposing opinions and their rule is agreeing with one, they need to carefully explain why they chose what they did, and they spend an enormous amount of time justifying their rules, often with the help of NIOSH expertise and research,' Barab said. Rebecca Reindel, safety and health director at the AFL-CIO, said she is worried that without NIOSH testimony OSHA will be more likely to kill the heat rule. The agency has been under pressure from industry groups to stop work on the rule or water down its protections. The oil and gas industry has said moving forward on the rule would jeopardize Trump's vision of achieving 'energy dominance.' NIOSH's testimony, she said, would be important to counteract that narrative. 'When you have industry groups saying 'we don't want this' or 'it's too expensive,' you want that neutral party that has actually done the research into what interventions work and that knows of how they have been successfully deployed in other workplaces,' Reindel said. 'Without NIOSH experts at this hearing, we lose a very critical part of the testimony and a part of the record we need to ensure that OSHA does regulate this hazard and uses the best available evidence and information.'
E&E News
12 hours ago
- Business
- E&E News
Trump fired the heat experts. Now he might kill their heat rule.
When federal regulators were crafting a first-ever proposal to protect workers from extreme heat, they relied on government health experts who had been working on the deadly effects of high temperatures for years. Now that entire team is gone due to President Donald Trump's personnel purges. It comes ahead of summertime heat waves that are intensifying because of climate change, raising the stakes for the 2024 draft heat rule that took decades to propose and whose fate now rests in the hands of an administration that is eviscerating climate programs. Extreme heat kills more U.S. residents annually than all other disasters. Advertisement The heat experts have been fired, placed on leave or forced out at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, an agency within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency, called NIOSH, was the first one to sound the alarm on the dangers that heat poses to workers. It recommended safety regulations in 1975, decades before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed the nation's first heat rule last year. The entire heat team at NIOSH was pushed out of the agency this spring, along with hundreds of experts who were studying other issues, as part of a massive reorganization at the Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The layoffs, which take effect this week, come as climate change supercharges temperatures, blanketing the nation in suffocating heat every summer. The personnel purge could also hamstring OSHA at the Department of Labor, as the agency considers whether to move forward with finalizing the heat rule under Trump or ditch it. Preserving it promises to be harder without the heat experts. 'The ability to reach out to experts and work together and solve problems and keep people safe in an efficient manner — that's not going to be possible when you have an agency turned into Swiss cheese,' said Doug Parker, who led OSHA during the Biden administration. Firefighter Geo Mulongo drinks water while taking a break during the Line Fire in Highland, California, last year. | Jae C. Hong/AP Lawsuits have brought back some NIOSH staffers who work mostly on coal mining and firefighting projects, or who test respirators and other personal protective equipment. Some of them have heat expertise in those industries. But most NIOSH heat experts — including those who work with the farming and construction sectors, which see the most heat-related deaths, and those who specifically examine heat as a hazard — have not returned to their jobs. The agency has also stopped all public communications on heat, just before summer threatens to bring suffocating temperatures. In the past, the agency would use social media campaigns and in-person presentations with employers to raise awareness about the dangers of heat. None of that has happened. Its social media accounts have been silent since April 1, when HHS told its workforce of the layoffs. 'If it stays the way it is right now, no one is going to be doing heat,' said one NIOSH worker who came back to the agency after being laid off and was granted anonymity to speak frankly. 'Very open line of communication' Congress created NIOSH in 1970 — by passing the same law that enacted OSHA — to 'develop and establish' safety standard recommendations for regulators. NIOSH had the experts, and OSHA had the regulators. In the 50 years since the agency initially advocated for a heat safety standard, it has made similar recommendations two other times, most recently in 2016. Because NIOSH has been at the forefront of identifying heat as a danger to workers, its experts have also been the preeminent researchers on the issue. The agency has conducted research into how electrolyte drinks compare to water when rehydrating workers and how protective equipment can make workers hotter than if they were only exposed to ambient air. It has also helped determine how to measure what heat truly feels like in work environments. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., seen here with President Donald Trump, is overseeing mass layoffs this week at the Department of Health and Human Services. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP When OSHA finally proposed national heat protections last summer, it cited its sister agency's work more than 250 times. The regulation would require employers to provide water and rest breaks to workers when heat rises above 80 degrees and paid rest breaks when temperatures exceed 90 degrees. 'We had a very open line of communication to discuss any questions they had while working on the regulation,' said one NIOSH worker who was laid off and was granted anonymity to speak frankly. Almost every aspect of the proposed rule has a citation that leads back to NIOSH, from the definitions of heat stress, to the explanation of how heat affects the human body, to a description about how hydration helps prevent heat-related dangers. 'We really fostered a strong relationship with NIOSH and it was at a peak level, so it is a tragedy what has happened,' said Parker, the former OSHA leader. As the layoffs take effect this week, it could complicate OSHA's consideration of the heat rule. In mid-June, the agency is scheduled to hold a weekslong hearing to let the public weigh in on the draft regulation. Normally, when worker advocates and industry representatives testify at OSHA hearings, agency staff is able to ask follow-up questions that can help shape the outcome. It's unclear if NIOSH experts — those who still have jobs — will testify at the hearing. Neither HHS nor the CDC responded to questions about expert testimony. HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard said Kennedy 'has been working hard to ensure that the critical functions under NIOSH remain intact.' 'The Trump administration is committed to supporting coal miners and firefighters, and under the secretary's leadership, NIOSH's essential services will continue as HHS streamlines its operations,' she said. 'Ensuring the health and safety of our workforce remains a top priority for the department.' 'They are neutral' Parker said holding a public hearing, and continuing the heat rulemaking, without NIOSH experts would be like prosecutors trying to convict a murderer without having the testimony of a medical examiner. 'It's like going to trial without your expert witness,' he said. 'They are neutral; they help review not only the content of the rule, but the comments of other advocates and industries. It's a well you can go to again and again.' Jordan Barab, former deputy assistant secretary of OSHA during the Obama administration, said NIOSH is a helpful resource when industry and worker groups provide conflicting information. The laws governing OSHA say it can only issue rules to protect workers that are also practical and cost-effective for employers, which means the agency has to be able to justify every aspect of a regulation. Most end up in court. 'If they have two opposing opinions and their rule is agreeing with one, they need to carefully explain why they chose what they did, and they spend an enormous amount of time justifying their rules, often with the help of NIOSH expertise and research,' Barab said. Rebecca Reindel, safety and health director at the AFL-CIO, said she is worried that without NIOSH testimony OSHA will be more likely to kill the heat rule. The agency has been under pressure from industry groups to stop work on the rule or water down its protections. The oil and gas industry has said moving forward on the rule would jeopardize Trump's vision of achieving 'energy dominance.' NIOSH's testimony, she said, would be important to counteract that narrative. 'When you have industry groups saying 'we don't want this' or 'it's too expensive,' you want that neutral party that has actually done the research into what interventions work and that knows of how they have been successfully deployed in other workplaces,' Reindel said. 'Without NIOSH experts at this hearing, we lose a very critical part of the testimony and a part of the record we need to ensure that OSHA does regulate this hazard and uses the best available evidence and information.'
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Griffith believes House will codify DOGE cuts
bluefield daily telegraph bluefield — U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., believes the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives will take steps to codify many of the cuts enacted by the Department of Government Efficiency under Elon Musk. Griffith, who represents Virginia's 9th Congressional District in the House, said if Republicans don't act to make some of the DOGE cuts law, those budget reductions could then be overturned by a future administration. While Musk left his job as a senior adviser for the Trump administration last week, his mission to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse across the federal government continues and is still causing controversy, particularly among Democrats who adamantly oppose many of the federal cuts. Other cuts, including those that were announced earlier this year at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Administration, prompted concern from some Republicans as well, including U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia. The NIOSH office in West Virginia provides health safety programs for coal miners, including black lung screening results. More than 100 workers at the NIOSH office in Morgantown who were impacted by the original reduction in force order have since returned to work. Griffith said Congress will make some of the DOGE cuts official. 'Some of them we will,' Griffith said. 'Some of them we won't.' Griffith said many of the DOGE cuts were well intentioned, and added that Musk is a 'genius.' 'He knows if we make government more efficient, we can solve a lot of our debt problem,' Griffith said. 'I know it's hard on individual families, but we've got to get the government more efficient. The bill, the big bill, it helps a little bit but it won't solve our debt problems. But that combined with the willingness of the administration to cut through the over bloated democracy will help us get some of our debt under control.' Griffith acknowledges that a number of federal workers lost their jobs under the DOGE cuts. But those and other cuts are necessary to get the nation's growing debt crisis under control, according to Griffith. DOGE under Musk initially proposed cutting spending by $2 trillion, but those figures were later reduced to $1 trillion and then $150 billion, according to the Associated Press. Musk is leaving his position spearheading DOGE, and is going back to running his businesses, including Telsa, Space X and the social media platform X, which was previously known as Twitter. Contact Charles Owens at cowens@
Time of India
2 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
Lives at risk: Trump cuts slash safety funds for nation's most dangerous work
More than a dozen workplace safety training centres across the United States could be forced to close by the end of the summer, as sweeping job cuts at a key federal health agency take effect under the Trump administration's cost-cutting drive. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which supports training and research for some of the country's most hazardous jobs, has lost nearly 90% of its workforce. Out of around 1,000 employees, only about 125 were left after job cuts on April 1, according to union data seen by Reuters. Although 300 employees were rehired in May, the team managing the 12 Centres for Agricultural Safety and Health, which support fishing, farming, and logging workers, was not part of this. Because of this, several centres are getting ready to close as their funding runs out. Training programmes run by groups like the Fishing Partnership Support Services (FPSS) and the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association face potential shutdowns by July or September. These programmes have provided critical hands-on safety training to thousands of workers, including how to handle fires, administer first aid, deploy life rafts, and use emergency radio equipment. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch CFD với công nghệ và tốc độ tốt hơn IC Markets Đăng ký Undo Without these federally funded courses, experts warn that more workers will be at risk and the burden on rescue services could increase. 'The return on investment of the government is huge,' said John Roberts, a retired Coast Guard officer and FPSS safety instructor. 'If they give us this money to do this training, it's going to lessen how much money has to be spent to rescue the untrained.' The US department of health and human services, which oversees NIOSH, said in a statement, 'The work will continue. HHS supports America's farmers, fishmen, and logging workers.' Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr defended the staff reductions in March, citing the need to streamline bureaucracy. NIOSH is now set to be absorbed into a new body called the Administration for a Healthy America. The decision comes despite the fact that fishing, farming and logging remain the deadliest industries in the US. Combined, they represent a small portion of the national workforce but recorded a fatal injury rate of 24.4 per 100,000 workers in 2023, seven times the national average. Many of the affected workers operate in remote locations where access to emergency medical care can be delayed by hours. Over the years, the NIOSH-backed centres have helped reduce those risks through safety research, direct education, and public health outreach. In 2024 alone, the Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety trained more than 5,600 workers. Other centres have introduced mobile health clinics, mental health support, and opioid overdose prevention in rural areas. But with grant funding set to expire between July and September, many of these initiatives are under threat. At the Southeastern Coastal Center for Agricultural Health and Safety in Florida, staff have already begun closing research programmes and worker outreach efforts. 'We're shutting down the direct education to the workers, we're shutting down the research,' said director J Glenn Morris. Although some industry groups offer private training, the cost remains a barrier for many. Without continued federal support, safety experts fear that many vulnerable workers will lose access to life-saving resources.
