National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the U.S. federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. NIOSH is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

NIOSH is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with research laboratories and offices in Cincinnati, Ohio; Morgantown, West Virginia; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Denver, Colorado; Anchorage, Alaska; Spokane, Washington; and Atlanta, Georgia. NIOSH is a professionally diverse organization with a staff of 1,200 people representing a wide range of disciplines including epidemiology, medicine, industrial hygiene, safety, psychology, engineering, chemistry, and statistics.

The director of NIOSH is John Howard.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed by President Richard M. Nixon, on December 29, 1970, created both NIOSH and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). NIOSH was established to help ensure safe and healthful working conditions by providing research, information, education, and training in the field of occupational safety and health. NIOSH provides national and world leadership to prevent work-related illness, injury, disability, and death by gathering information, conducting scientific research, and translating the knowledge gained into products and services.

Health Hazard Evaluation Program

The Health Hazard Evaluation (HHE) program is a workplace health program administered by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). NIOSH developed the HHE program to comply with a mandate in the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to investigate workplace health hazards reported by employers and employees. According to Section 20(a)(6) of the Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services is authorized "following a written request by any employer or authorized representative of employees, to determine whether any substance normally found in the place of employment has potentially toxic effects in such concentrations as used or found."

Employees, employers, and labor unions can request assistance from the HHE program at no cost to them. The HHE program responds to requests through a variety of methods, including telephone consultations and field investigations. For field investigations, NIOSH provides a report detailing the hazards found and outlining remediation recommendations. NIOSH does not have the authority to force the employer to comply with these recommendations. The report is given to the requestor, the employer, employee representatives, OSHA, and other appropriate agencies; most reports are posted on the NIOSH website.