NIOSH Essays - National Institute For Occupational Safety And Health

NIOSH The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Occupational Safety an Health Administration (OSHA) were established by the Occupational Safety and Health Act passed by congress in 1970. NIOSH is a part of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and is the only federally funded and controlled division responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work related illnesses and injuries. It is important to understand the OSHA and NIOSH are two separate agencies. OSHA is housed under the Department of Labor and is responsible for the development and enforcement of workplace health and safety regulations. NIOSH on the other hand is in the Department of Health and Human Services and is a research agency. NIOSH was created when the US Secretary of Labor was directed by congress through section 2B (5,6) of the OSH Act to "provide for research in the field of occupational safety and health, including the psychological involved, and by developing innovative methods, techniques, and approaches for dealing with occupational safety and health problems: by exploring ways to discover latent diseases, establishing causal connections between diseases and work and environmental conditions, and conducting other research relating to health problems, in recognition of the fact that occupational health standards present problems often different from those involved in occupational safety". During its 25 year history NIOSH has had its function revised two times, once in 1977 by amendment to the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act and in 1995 when the U.S. Bureau of Mine Health and Safety Research was consolidated and placed in NIOSH. These changes allowed NIOSH to play the same role in the mining industry that they played in all others. The duties and responsibilities of NIOSH are numerous but include: ? Investigating potentially hazardous working conditions as reported by employees or employers. ? Evaluate the hazards of new technologies and work practices. ? Researching, Creating and Evaluating methods for preventing disease, illness or injury in the workplace. ? Providing education and training to individuals preparing for or actively involved in the field of occupational safety and health. ? Recommend occupational safety and health standards to OSHA. Many of the efforts of NIOSH are targeted at anticipating workplace crisis and making sure that they do not come to pass. An example of one of these efforts is the many mine disaster that have been prevented as a result of the pillar system developed by NIOSH for longwall mining. Another example is the many health emergencies that have been avoided as a result of the NIOSH information hotline. As a federal agency NIOSH has given itself both a vision and a mission statement. It's vision is "Delivering on the Nations promise: safety and health at work for all people through research and prevention". The mission of NIOSH is to "provide national and world leadership to prevent work-related illness, injury and death by gathering information, conducting scientific studies and translating the knowledge gained into products and services". NIOSH has given itself four strategic goals for the next decade. The first goal is to "conduct a targeted program of research to reduce morbidity, injuries and mortality among workers in high priority areas and high-risk sectors". In order to accomplish goal number one NIOSH will follow NORA or the National Occupational Research Agenda. NORA breaks NIOSH research down into 3 distinct areas, disease and injury, work environment/workforce and research tools and approaches. Each of the three areas has specific areas of research that will be targeted. The following is a brief list of the targeted research areas: Disease and Injury Allergic and Irritant Dermatitis Hearing Loss Low Back Disorders Cumulative Trauma Disorders Work Environment Emerging Technologies And Workforce Indoor Environment Special Populations at Risk Research Tools and Cancer Research Methods Approaches Control Technology and PPE Exposure Assessment Methods Risk Assessment Methods It is understood that while there are many other area's of research that may still have importance, under NORA these will be some of the areas receiving the majority of research attention at this time. The second goal is to "develop a system of surveillance of major occupational illnesses, injuries, exposures and health hazards". Congress decided in 1986 that the ability to identify, quantify and report work-related injury and disease is vital to prevention. To make optimal use of public resources to conduct this surveillance NIOSH has created partnerships at Federal, State and Local levels throughout the country. An example of this type of surveillance is the FACE program or Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation. In this program partnerships formed with state Health Departments allow NIOSH to