The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) has submitted official comments regarding the FY 2013 federal budget to the House Committee on Appropriations – Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies. Specifically, AIHA is concerned about a proposed budget decrease for the NIOSH Education and Research Centers (ERCs) and the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (AFF) sector of the NIOSH National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA).
The association strongly urges the committee to provide the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) with funding in FY 2013 comparable to that which was appropriated in FY 2012. President Barack Obama has proposed a 2013 budget that eliminates all federal funding – some $24 million – for the NIOSH ERCs and $20 million for the AFF.
“NIOSH is the sole federal agency responsible for conducting research, making recommendations for the prevention of work-related disease and injury and leading the effort to ensure that there are occupational safety and health professionals trained to protect America’s workers,” said AIHA in its comments. “Elimination of funding for the ERCs and the AFF program would have negative impact on worker occupational safety and health for years to come as fewer and fewer individuals would have access to this specialized training.”
The full text of AIHA’s official comments, can be found here.
