New York workplace safety organizations are blasting a recent move from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who this week ordered layoffs of at least two-thirds of the staff at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
About 873 staff members are expected to be fired, which organizations say amounts to gutting a vital agency that protects workers, especially low-wage, immigrant, Black, and Latino workers, who are already facing among the highest rates of fatality and injury on the job. Immigrant Latino workers are particularly vulnerable. Despite accounting for 8.2% of the national workforce, they account for 14% of work-related deaths in 2021.
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Since 1970, NIOSH’s mission has been to prevent workers from getting sick, injured, or killed at work. As a research institute, its focus has been primarily on providing information, education, and offering workers training on occupational safety and health. NIOSH researches workplace hazards, develops recommendations for safety and health standards, and provides workers and employers with information on workplace safety.
“This is one of the biggest attacks on public health I have ever seen in my career,” said Charlene Obernauer, executive director of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH). “When you think about the work NIOSH does and what dismantling the agency means, it is pretty significant.”
The layoffs have already impacted staff at NIOSH’s mining safety research division and at the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory. But layoffs may soon spread to other divisions.
Secretary Kennedy’s layoffs could also impact the World Trade Center Health Program, which is run by NIOSH. On Wednesday, Dr. John Howard, director of NIOSH and the administrator of the World Trade Center Health Program, was abruptly fired.
The layoffs at NIOSH come as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) carries out President Trump’s executive order to downsize the federal government. Under the direction of Secretary Kennedy, HHS plans to reduce its workforce from 82,000 to 62,000 full-time employees. NIOSH, along with several other agencies, will be consolidated into the new Administration for a Healthy America.
In 2023, NIOSH investigated a deadly fungal infection outbreak at a Michigan paper mill. Of the 645 workers at the mill, 162 workers fell ill and one died. NIOSH specializes in these kinds of incidents, providing evidence and tools to prevent workplace tragedies. Reports and training conducted by NIOSH are also provided in multiple languages, ensuring that information on workplace safety is accessible to all workers regardless of their language or citizenship status.
“NIOSH reports in multiple languages are crucial,” Jessica E. Martinez, executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, a national federation of 25 grassroots worker organizations including NYCOSH. “They ensure all workers — regardless of their language proficiency — can understand and act on safety information. Eliminating these resources means more injuries, more deaths, and more suffering.”
Across the country, NIOSH also awards grants and funding for research and training. In 2023, NIOSH awarded over $107 million in funding for research grants, training, and health centers — including nearly $6 million in 2023 to New York alone. Now, with fewer staff, organizations fear that the agency’s critical role in ensuring workplace safety could be in jeopardy.
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“If we eliminate an agency like NIOSH, it will have devastating consequences,” added Martinez. “Employers will have less accountability. Injury and fatality rates will rise. This will leave workers without the knowledge and tools they need to stay safe.”
Most concerning to Obernauer of NYCOSH is the possibility that the NIOSH staff cuts could impact the agency’s research into the adverse effects rising temperatures have on all workers around the country.
As part of the TEMP Coalition, NYCOSH, along with several labor unions, has been pushing for the passage of extreme temperature legislation in Albany. Nationally, there have been 33,890 heat-related illnesses reported between 2011 and 2020.
“One of our big legislative priorities right now is the temperature stress campaign,” said Obernauer. “For that campaign, if there’s not enough research going into that area of study, as our planet warms and how higher temperatures affect workers, that data isn’t going to get analyzed and funded.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not return Documented’s request for comment.
