Press Center

ACOEM Calls Members to Action over HHS and NIOSH Reductions

04/03/2025

Dear ACOEM Members:

We remain concerned about how recent staffing reductions at agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), will negatively impact worker health and safety research, the residency pipeline, and the specialty of occupational and environmental medicine (OEM).

As a follow-up to our last communication, we are reaching out to share how you can take action and voice your concerns regarding these reductions and emphasize the importance of NIOSH and the specialty of OEM.

How You Can Help

1. Contact Your Legislators

Call and email your local representatives to highlight the negative consequences these cuts will have on workers’ health and safety, the residency pipeline, and the specialty of OEM. 

Visit congress.org/members and enter your address to find your legislator's contact information. Download our customizable letter template to send to your representatives.

2. Engage with the Senate Health, Education Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee and the House Energy & Commerce's (E&C) Health Subcommittee

Senate HELP Committee leadership has invited the HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to appear before a Congressional Hearing on April 10, 2025, to address the restructuring of HHS. 

HHS staff will brief members of the House E&C’s Health Subcommittee next week and Democratic leaders of that committee are also calling for a public hearing on this issue.

Call HELP and E&C committee members and urge them to express strong support for reinstating NIOSH, emphasizing its critical role in safeguarding the health and safety of American workers, sustaining business productivity, and promoting overall health of the U.S. economy. 

Click here to see the list of names and phone numbers for committee members.

3. Spread the Message on Social Media

Follow ACOEM on social media and share our advocacy posts with your network. Plus, share relevant posts from your colleagues and trusted organizations, and create your own posts using some of the key talking points below to raise awareness and encourage others to take action and spread the word.

Key Talking Points

  • NIOSH is a small agency that does a huge amount on a small budget. With a budget of less than $2 per year for each American worker, this is one of the most cost-effective agencies we have. 
  • NIOSH protects the nation’s 164 million workers and provides the only dedicated federal investment for research needed to prevent injuries and illnesses that cost the U.S. economy $250 billion annually.
  • Only 6% of American workers belong to a union that can keep watch on the safety of their members, so NIOSH is even more important than ever. 
  • These drastic cuts will be devastating to training programs for physicians, nurses, and safety professionals across the country that we need to keep workers safe and productive. We already have a critical shortage in the safety workforce, and these cuts will sever the pipeline beyond repair.
  • The cuts to NIOSH will have life-threatening and deadly impacts on the lives of working people: 
    • Firefighters, nurses, and construction workers won’t be protected by approved respirators. 
    • Young workers will not receive safety training before they go to work.
    • Miners will get incurable dust diseases.
    • New infectious diseases will spread to workers and the community. 
    • Toxic exposures at work will cause 15% of cancers.
    • Over 5,000 deaths will happen at work every year, and no one will investigate ways to prevent them.
    • Tens of thousands of workers will have serious and disabling injuries and cost the American health care system billions of dollars.
  • Among many other critical things that NIOSH scientists do, there will be no independent reliable source of information on important issues including line speed and crippling back and hand injuries, the thousands of chemicals that cause cancer and reproductive damage, and the stress of work on heart diseases, diabetes, obesity, and mental health. 

Our voices are stronger together, and we encourage you to stand with us in advocating for our specialty.

Sincerely,

Tanisha Taylor, MD, MPH, FACOEM

ACOEM President