NIOSH Science Blog Posts

NIOSH-developed Tools for Monitoring Respirable Crystalline Silica in the Mining Environment

  Respirable crystalline silica (RCS), most commonly in the form of quartz, is a known health hazard in many industries. Exposure to RCS can lead to debilitating and incurable diseases. To minimize the risk of health effects associated with exposure, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) released a final rule for lowering miners’ exposure Read More >

Posted on by Rachel L. T. Walker, PhD; Justin Patts; Emanuele Cauda, PhD2 Comments

Perspectives on Forest Operations Safety

Forest operations, which include logging and other forestry activities (e.g., planting, thinning, fuels reduction, and wildland fire fighting), are a vital component of forest management. It is also one of the most dangerous places to work in the United States (U.S.). In 2022, there were 54 fatalities to logging workers. The work-related fatality rate for Read More >

Posted on by John J. Garland, PhD, PE; Ray Berthiaume; Jennifer Lincoln, PhD, CSP; Kitty Hendricks, MALeave a comment

Celebrating National Ergonomics Month

  October is National Ergonomics Month, a time to raise awareness about the importance of designing workplaces to fit people better. Ergonomics focuses on creating tools, tasks, and environments that improve comfort, reduce injuries, and promote the health and well-being of workers. Ergonomics research and interventions can help prevent common workplace musculoskeletal injuries, such as Read More >

Posted on by Menekse S. Barim, Mahiyar Nasarwanji, Liying Zheng, Alysha Meyers, Tristan Victoroff, Brent A. Baker, Jessica Ramsey, Asha BroganLeave a comment

A New Partnership Focuses on the Occupational Safety and Health Needs of Lone Workers

  Working alone is common in many industries and may introduce safety and health risks for workers. In 2023, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) formed a partnership to improve safety and health for lone workers by developing and disseminating information about the risks Read More >

Posted on by Ryan Hill, MPH; Ken Scott, PhD; Chandran Achutan, PhD, CIH; Deborah Hornback, MS; Todd Jordan, MSPH, CIH; Trapper Braegger, CIH, CSP3 Comments

Worried About Lead in Your Workplace?

  Our goal in public health is to keep people safe from the hazards around them including in the workplace. If you are worried about lead or other possible hazards in your worksite, there is something you can do about it. There’s a program for that The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s Health Read More >

Posted on by Amy Mobley, MEn, and James Couch, PhD, CIHLeave a comment

Protecting Workers on the Roadways: The Use of Truck-Mounted Attenuators in the Fire and Emergency Services

  Workers who respond to roadway emergencies, such as vehicle crashes, can face multiple hazards. Working at roadway incidents frequently exposes responders to potentially being struck by passing motor vehicle traffic leading to serious injury or death. These secondary crashes during responses to roadway incidents contribute to about 50 emergency responder fatalities and injuries annually.[1][2] Additionally, Read More >

Posted on by Wesley R. Attwood, DrCJ; Meghan Kiederer, BA; David E. Fosbroke, BS, MSF; Tammy L. Schaeffer; Jarrad E. Clift, MBA; Joseph Tebo; David Bryson, EMT14 Comments

Primary Care and the Working Patient — Occupational Health Principles in Practice

  What someone does for work, and where and when they do it, can have broad health impacts. This includes direct effects from physical job exposures and hazards. Many aspects of work also affect health in other ways such as through sleep and eating patterns, social connectedness, mental health stressors, and access to benefits like Read More >

Posted on by Nadia Saif, MD, MPH; Christina Socias-Morales, DrPH; Vidisha Parasram, DrPH; Audrey Reichard, MPH; Sara Luckhaupt, MD, MPH; Marianne Cloeren, MD, MPH; Stella Hines, MD, MSPH; Sophia Chiu, MD, MPH; Dallas Shi, MD, PhD; and Nicholas Somerville, MD, MPH1 Comment

How Employers Can Advance the 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention

  Suicide is a serious public health threat. In 2022 in the United States, nearly 50,000 adults died by suicide, 13.2 million adults seriously considered suicide, 3.8 million planned a suicide attempt, and 1.6 million attempted suicide.[1] In that same year, 267 adults died by suicide while at work in the United States.[2] That is Read More >

Posted on by Hope M. Tiesman, Eric G. Carbone, John Malgeri, L. Casey ChosewoodLeave a comment

Celebrating 20 Years of the Nanotechnology Research Center: Measuring the Small Things

Nanotechnology uses science to create very small materials. Engineered nanomaterials are made to have properties that are different from a larger form of the same material. Usually, this change in properties happens when the material gets smaller, so most engineered nanomaterials have at least one dimension that measures less than 100 nanometers. Although this change Read More >

Posted on by Jay Vietas, PhD, CIH, CSP, and Aleksandr Stefaniak, PhD, CIHLeave a comment

Keeping Emergency Responders Safe: NIOSH Efforts Since 9/11

  On September 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 people lost their lives and thousands were injured during the events that occurred at the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City, New York, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the plane crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It’s estimated that more than 400,000 people were exposed to harmful Read More >

Posted on by Wesley R. Attwood, DrCJ; Meghan Kiederer, BA; LCDR Carley Anderson, MPH; Anthony Gardner, MPA, MA; CAPT Chad H. Dowell, MS, CIH; CDR Alice M. Shumate, PhD, MPH; Chandran Achutan, PhD, CIH; Jon Szalajda, MS; Andrea Wilkinson, MS; Allyson W. O’Connor, PhD, MPHLeave a comment

Job Satisfaction in the Logging Industry

  Operating heavy machinery, working long hours, and hitting the road before sunrise and returning after sunset are occupational pressures that loggers and log truck drivers face. These conditions also put them at high risk for injury and fatality. Researchers in the University of Washington Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center surveyed 45 loggers Read More >

Posted on by Marissa Baker, PhD; Lily Monsey; Jennifer Lincoln, PhD, CSP; Kitty Hendricks, MALeave a comment

Prevent Fungal Diseases in the Workplace

As part of Fungal Disease Awareness Week, we are highlighting fungal diseases that can affect workers. Coccidioidomycosis (Valley fever), blastomycosis, and histoplasmosis are fungal diseases caused by fungi that live in the environment in certain regions. Infections are caused by breathing in fungal spores that get into the air. Some jobs and work activities that Read More >

Posted on by Emily Kirby, BPH; Marie de Perio, MD; Mitsuru Toda, PhD, MS; Samantha Williams, MPH; Ian Hennessee, PhD, MPHLeave a comment

2024 Day of Service and Remembrance Administrator Statement: Commemorating 23 years since September 11th, 2001

Today as a nation, we reflect on the events of September 11, 2001. It was a day of tragic national and personal loss, but also a day that displayed the strength and courage of those who were there. The National 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance is our chance to honor, in both memory and Read More >

Posted on by John Howard, M.D.Leave a comment

NTRC Marks 20 Years of Studying Nanotoxicology: Highlights from the Toxicology and Internal Dose Team

Where It Started As the Nanotechnology Research Center (NTRC) marks its 20th anniversary, we reflect on our achievements in the field of nanotoxicology. Within the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), one NTRC goal is to understand possible harm from nanomaterials in workplaces. Our work has its origins in earlier research. We started by Read More >

Posted on by Jenny R. Roberts, PhD2 Comments

Exploring Approaches to Keep an AI-Enabled Workplace Safe for Workers

  Artificial intelligence (AI)—the field of computer science that designs machines to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence—has seen rapid advances leading to cutting‐edge innovations in language, vision, reasoning, and human‐machine collaboration across industries, economies, and labor markets.[1] [2] In the workplace, the adoption of AI technologies can result in a broad range of Read More >

Posted on by John Howard, MD, and Paul A. Schulte, PhDLeave a comment

Tips for Managing Personal Protective Equipment in Your Stockpile: Respirator Selection and Purchase

Happy Respiratory Protection Week 2024! Another year provides another opportunity to highlight resources to support informed workplace respiratory protection practices. NIOSH has been at the forefront of this effort for decades, testing and approving respirators used in U.S. occupational settings while also striving to provide the science necessary to inform complex respiratory protection decisions. Respiratory Read More >

Posted on by Susan Moore, PhD; Lee Greenawald, PhD; Aris Copeland; Jackie Cichowicz; Frank PageLeave a comment

COFE – The Future of Forest Operations

What does safety have to do with forest engineering? Everything. For the first time, Safety, Health, and Workforce Development was highlighted as a distinct track at the Council of Forest Engineering’s (COFE) Annual Meeting. Hosted by the University of Idaho’s College of Natural Resources and the University of Idaho Experimental Forest on May 21-24 in Read More >

Posted on by Marcy Harrington, MPA; Robert Keefe, PhD; Jennifer Lincoln, PhD, CSP; and Kitty Hendricks, MALeave a comment

Labor Day Message 2024

Each Labor Day we honor workers and the role they play in building a strong and prosperous nation. Much like the first Labor Day more than a century ago, many of us mark this federal holiday with festivities such as parades or picnics. This year, as you head out to celebrate the end of summer Read More >

Posted on by John Howard, M.D.2 Comments

Women in Coal Mining

When thinking of mining, many picture male coal miners. This is because most miners are men, and many depictions of coal miners are of men wearing hardhats and dusty reflective coveralls. Women have been working in various capacities above ground in coal mining since coal was first commercially used in the U.S. in the early Read More >

Posted on by Noemi Hall, PhD1 Comment

Farmworker Appreciation Day 2024 – Celebrate the workers who bring us our daily bread (and everything else on our plate)

  Few jobs are as essential as the ones that help to produce the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and many other products which get us through the day. From our morning coffee to a midnight snack, we benefit from the labor of farmworkers. The U.S employed approximately 2.6 million farmworkers in 2022 Read More >

Posted on by KC Elliott, Amanda Wickman1 Comment