The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHSB) consider the formation of a subcommittee to overcome challenges that arise from the dismantling of the National Institute for Security and Health (NISH).
During the OSHSB meeting on April 17, 2025, the board members discussed reports on considerable layoffs within Niosh due to the federal government's budget cuts. These cuts would “remove 92% of the Niosh workforce”, which leads to the agency's shutdown. At the beginning of this month, Niosch was hit with even more layoffs.
Niosh conducts security and health research in professional research, recommends security standards and offers training and educational resources. It is expected that the almost elimination of Niosh disturbs these essential services and creates a gap, in particular the certification of personal protective equipment (PSA). In federal regulations, the use of respiratory protection approved by NIOSH requires and require certain extensive respiratory protection programs.
Without NIOSH certification, California faces challenges in protecting employees, especially in industries with high risk such as fire protection, healthcare and mining. The lack of a certification body could hinder the development and sale of new respiratory protection technologies that affects OSHSB, would be significant risks to the security of the employees. The board expressed the urgency in terms of potential risks to the health and security of the firefighters, given the recent fires of forest fire and urban interfaces within the state.
The proposed subcommittee would examine the overall functions of NIOSH and take alternatives into account, including potential laws, partnerships with other countries and the use of existing expertise on site. The subcommittee would also examine the current situation in Washington DC, evaluate the effects on California employees and evaluate measures that the state or OSHSB can take to alleviate these problems. The OSHSB plans to continue these discussions with Cal/Osha during their upcoming meeting in Redding.