Trump Administration Plans Sweeping Cuts to Shrink NIOSH by Two-Thirds

While the news of the day centers on President Trump’s latest round of tariffs, his administration’s campaign to rein in government spending has reached the workplace safety arena. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has announced plans to reduce the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) by as much as two-thirds. NIOSH is currently part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The restructuring, according to Kennedy, will result in the creation of the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA). The newly formed AHA will combine multiple agencies — the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), and NIOSH — into single entity. The intended result, the HHS said, is to save taxpayers $1.8 billion per year through a workforce reduction of about roughly 10,000 full-time employees. When factoring in early retirement, total workforce reduction throughout HHS will result in a downsizing from 82,000 to 62,000 full-time employees.

Explaining the reductions, HHS Secretary Kennedy said in a statement, “Over time, bureaucracies like HHS become wasteful and inefficient even when most of their staff are dedicated and competent civil servants. This overhaul will be a win-win for taxpayers and for those that HHS serves. That’s the entire American public, because our goal is to Make America Healthy Again.”

Not everybody involved in workplace safety shares Kennedy’s optimistic vision that less is more – that fewer people involved in government-sponsored safety initiatives will make the workplace safer. Pam Walaski, president of the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP), expressed concern not only about the severe downsizing of NIOSH but also a government proposal to close several area offices of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

“These reductions,” Walaski said in a statement, “threaten to weaken the scientific foundation of workplace safety and health. We believe this change could severely limit occupational EHS research, which is a major part of NIOSH’s mission. NIOSH’s contributions have been pivotal to advancing workplace safety and health through evidence-based research and the development of life-saving interventions. Without a strong commitment to research and data-driven safety advancements, the ability to prevent workplace injuries and fatalities would be severely compromised. This shift represents a serious risk to the continued progress of workplace safety, which is integral to American workers, businesses and industries.”

ASSP plans to urge lawmakers in the U.S. House and Senate to “take action to ensure that OSHA and NIOSH can continue their essential missions without disruptions,” she added.

The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH), a group that advocates on behalf of workers, is taking an even dimmer view of the HHS’s workforce reductions. “The gutting of NIOSH is a direct assault on workers’ safety, health and lives, leading to more death, more injury and less accountability,” said Jessica Martinez, executive director of National COSH, in a statement.

“If we eliminate an agency like NIOSH, it will have devastating consequences. Employers will have less accountability. Injury and fatality rates will rise. This will leave workers without the knowledge and tools they need to stay safe.” To be clear, HHS has not explicitly suggested that NIOSH be “eliminated,” but rather downsized and absorbed into the new AHA.

Martinez pointed out that NIOSH plays a key role in workplace safety, in such areas as conducting research on toxic exposures, heat stress, workplace violence, and injury prevention. NIOSH also informs various OSHA policies, including protections from asbestos and silica dust.

“What Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is doing,” said Martinez, “is giving more power to corporations and stripping protections from the people who keep this country running. This is about putting margins over lives.”

According to a report from CBS News, an estimated 873 staff are expected to be cut from NIOSH. The “probable effective date” for the workforce reductions is June 30, according to the letter obtained by CBS that was sent by HHS to the union for the government employees.