Unions and occupational safety providers say the federal agency with statutory responsibility to protect workersƵ health and safety through research remains decimated by the Trump administration, a disruption of programs and services that will result in more disabling injuries, illnesses and premature deaths for American workers.
The unions and safety providers said so in a Wednesday federal court filing that updated a complaint they filed in May against Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his agency asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to stop an effective shutdown of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
Established by federal law in 1970, the HHS-housed NIOSH is responsible for performing research and making recommendations to prevent work-related illness and injury. The agency has been critical in advancing protections against mine dust, hazardous chemicals and other threatening conditions while working with the Department of Labor to maintain occupational safety and health statistics.
But nearly a dozen unions, including the , said in their Wednesday court filing the Trump administration has persisted in unlawfully eliminating NIOSH divisions that carry out statutorily required functions that safeguard workersƵ health.
HHS did not respond to a request for comment.
The unions said the HHS has shut down NIOSHƵs:
- Mining Research Division, which has tested mine safety equipment and analyzed toxic silica dust amid a sharp rise in black lung disease in central Appalachia as miners cut deeper into rock with thinning coal seams
- Division of Science Integration, which converts NIOSH scientific research into practical guidance and recommendations, including identifying and contending with toxic materials
- Field Research Branch, Health Informatics Branch, and Engineering and Physical Hazards Branch of the Division of Field Studies and Engineering, which has performed field-based exposure assessments and epidemiological studies to address workplace hazards
- Health Effects Laboratory Division, which has conducted laboratory research to combat workplace safety and health hazards, including work activity simulation model development and study of work-related immune diseases
- Office of Extramural Coordination and Special Projects, which has been responsible for extramural grants and cooperative agreements, funding and coordinating occupational safety and health-focused Education and Research Centers at universities across the nation
The moves have made NIOSH Ƶfunctionally incapable of carrying out its core research mission,Ƶ the plaintiffs say.
Timeline to systemic shutdown reported
Other plaintiffs joining the UMWA in the lawsuit include the American Federation of Teachers, the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial, and Service Workers International Union, AFL-CIO, and the National Federation of Federal Employees, whose members include nurses, doctors and physical therapists caring for veterans in the Department of Veterans Affairs and health care workers serving on military bases.
The plaintiffs say more than 400 out of just over 1,000 NIOSH civil service employees received notice on April 1 their positions would be eliminated in June, and that hundreds of NIOSH contractors who work with other NIOSH staff to support NIOSH programs also received notice of their termination.
Most of the employees in that wave of Ƶreduction in forceƵ notices were placed immediately on administrative leave pending an expected June 2 elimination of their positions despite regulations requiring that, where possible, agencies conducting reductions in force, or RIFs, should Ƶretain Ƶ employee[s] on active duty statusƵ between RIF notice and terminations to ensure a smooth transition, the complaint alleges.
Nearly 400 more NIOSH civil service employees got RIF notices on May 2 with a separation date of July 2, most of whom also were placed instantly on paid administrative leave, the complaint contends.
The RIFs, terminations of NIOSH probationary employees and departures of NIOSH employees who took early retirements or voluntary buyouts resulted in nearly 900 civil service employees, or about 85% of NIOSHƵs staff before President Donald TrumpƵs inauguration, were slated to separate by early July, per the complaint.
The upshot, the plaintiffs say, was almost every NIOSH division being shut down before RIF notices were rescinded for 328 of nearly 900 NIOSH employees who left or were scheduled to leave, per the complaint, which asserted the restored offices generally administer smaller programs aimed at providing specific services instead of NIOSHƵs core occupational safety and health research, education, training and grantmaking functions.
Most employees subject to unrescinded notices still are on administrative leave and not performing their usual work despite NIOSH being subject to two preliminary injunctions prohibiting it from carrying out the RIF notices that havenƵt been rescinded, the complaint alleges.
Consequences of mining research cuts
Per the complaint, work stoppages at mining research units in Pittsburgh and Spokane, Washington, mean halted initiatives that include:
- Testing mine safety equipment aimed at preventing cave-ins, despite a substantial backlog of requests from manufacturers
- Testing and monitoring wearable devices that continuously monitor minersƵ dust exposure, even though the only existing NIOSH-approved continuous personal dust monitor on the market is soon to be discontinued
- Collecting and analyzing field data from sensors installed at mines across the country to identify conditions where there could be unacceptably high dust levels
ƵThe result of this disruption to NIOSH programs and services will be more disabling injuries, illnesses, and premature deaths to American workers,Ƶ the amended complaint filed Wednesday states.
In May, a federal judge required restoration of NIOSH Respiratory Health Division jobs, including within the Coal WorkersƵ Health Surveillance Program, a resource heavily relied upon by West Virginia miners.
The order came in a lawsuit levied by Kanawha County resident and Raleigh County miner Harry Wiley.
NIOSH is required under federal code to permanently establish a mine safety and health office to enhance Ƶdevelopment of new mine safety technology and technological applications and to expedite the commercial availability and implementation of such technology in mining environments.Ƶ
The preventative work of those NIOSH mining research divisions has complemented rather than duplicated the diagnostic work that restored Respiratory Health Division employees have performed.
The Pittsburgh Mining Research Division has focused on coal, stone, sand and gravel mining, while the Spokane Mining Research Division has focused on deep underground metal mines and large open pits, with both collaborating on projects. Both the Pittsburgh and Spokane divisions have studied how to control mine dust and protect miners from dust exposure.
Effectively eliminating those divisions threatens elimination of projects they have taken on, including analyzing toxic silica dust and destigmatizing mental health.
Both the Pittsburgh and Spokane mining research divisions were working on near-real-time silica analysis projects and had contract efforts curtailed by HHS Ƶreduction in forceƵ notices and contract terminations, mine safety experts have told HD Media.
ƵGrave and mounting harm across the nationƵ
HHSƵ downsizing of NIOSH comes amid an initiative Kennedy announced in March to Ƶreduc[e] bureaucratic sprawlƵ and streamline functions throughout HHS.
That initiative, the plaintiffs say, has gone too far beyond the confines of law and Ƶprinciples of sound decision making.Ƶ
Ƶ[HHS] actions in shutting down critical NIOSH components and their corresponding research functions,Ƶ they said, Ƶwill cause grave and mounting harm across the nation.Ƶ
