Image Credit: Getty Images / Elena Safonova

Since AIHA launched our Restore NIOSH campaigns, thousands of members, OEHS professionals, and other stakeholders have heeded our calls, voiced their support for this critical agency, and asked their elected representatives to stand up for worker health and safety. The swift response was both gratifying and effective: last month, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where NIOSH resides, reversed some of the staff terminations. We are tremendously pleased that the following NIOSH divisions have been restored:

• National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory. NPPTL includes the Respirator Testing and Certification Program, which is essential for ensuring the effectiveness of respirators.
• Respiratory Health Division. This includes the Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program, which processes X-rays and pulmonary function tests as required under federal mining standards.
• Division of Safety Research. This includes the Firefighter Fatality Investigation Program and the Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program.
• Division of Compensation Analysis and Support. This includes the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation program, which supports workers who were injured or became ill on the job while working on the United States nuclear weapons programs.

Other restored initiatives include the World Trade Center Health Program, the Health Hazard Evaluation (HHE) Program, the National Firefighter Registry (NFR) for Cancer, and the Emergency Preparedness and Response Office.

Additionally, HHS has delayed the reduction-in-force notices issued to NIOSH employees, which were supposed to take effect on June 2. For now, NIOSH workers who weren’t reinstated remain on administrative leave. This is preferable to termination and leaves the door open to future reinstatement.

Complicating matters, while some NIOSH programs have been restored, multiple lawsuits have been filed against the administration arguing that the actions of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are unconstitutional. As a result, at least some reinstated individuals have not yet been permitted to return to work as the matter works its way through the court system.

I want to express my sincere thanks to everyone who has advocated on behalf of NIOSH. We should all be proud of what we’ve helped achieve so far. But there’s much more to do. The restored NIOSH staff represent only a fraction of the agency, and the following key functions remain dormant:

• Health Effects Laboratory Division, which produces the NIOSH Manual of Analytical Methods and is responsible for developing and validating new methods to meet occupational and environmental health and safety standards
• Division of Science Integration, which is responsible for NIOSH recommended exposure limits, IDLH (immediately dangerous to life or health) values, skin notations, the NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards, and the Occupational Exposure Banding Strategy and e-tool
• the Spokane and Pittsburgh Mining Divisions
• the Western States Division, with offices in Spokane, Washington; Anchorage, Alaska; and Denver, Colorado
• the Office of Extramural Programs, which manages and supports the 18 Education and Research Centers, the 10 Centers for Total Worker Health, and the 12 Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health

Furthermore, although the Division of Field Studies and Engineering was partially restored, all of its programs other than HHE and NFR were eliminated, including teams focused on engineering controls, physical hazards, workers’ compensation, occupational surveillance and cancer, and reproductive epidemiology.

Another threat to NIOSH is emerging as Congress enters its budgetary process. President Trump’s budget request for fiscal year 2026 would cut the NIOSH budget by $135 million (80 percent). Also, the initial HHS budget does not include funding for the restored programs listed above.

To keep up the momentum, AIHA recently launched its third grassroots Restore NIOSH campaign. This time, we’re calling on members who live and work in states whose senators and representatives serve on committees that oversee labor and health-related issues. If you live in one of these states—a complete list is available on our public affairs page—you have two options for participating in the campaign:

• Option A: use AIHA’s VoterVoice tool to send letters directly to your elected officials.
• Option B: schedule time to meet with your elected officials or members of their staff in their home offices.

On the AIHA public affairs page, you’ll find additional information about both of these options and resources for succeeding at either approach.

You should know that the grassroots campaigns are just part of AIHA’s response to the NIOSH crisis. As part of our strategy, we’ve issued a public statement of support for the agency, co-signed multiple letters to congressional committees urging restoration of NIOSH funding and staffing, visited with staff members of key congressional committee members, and collected statements from members to amplify the human impact of cuts to NIOSH. AIHA is also supporting one of the NIOSH NORA Councils (Healthy Work Design) by allowing council members to access and use some of the association's internal tools to share resources.

These actions show that NIOSH will remain a top priority for AIHA into 2026 and beyond. But our grassroots campaigns are crucial to success. So far, these campaigns have generated 8,570 messages from 2,528 individuals. Everyone’s voice is needed, and we can’t succumb to advocacy fatigue. If you live in a target state for our third campaign and have already participated in our earlier campaigns, I greatly appreciate your support—and I urge you to get involved once again. Now that we’ve tasted some success, we need to keep up the pressure until we reach our goal.