Miner allies fighting to reverse NIOSH cuts, renew safety research amid legal limbo

“That was a very fortunate event, that everybody was able to make it out there,� said Schafrik, associate professor of mining engineering at the University of Kentucky.

Schafrik noted that the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, the agency created by Congress in 1970 that researches safety and disease trends among West Virginia miners and other industries nationwide, has supported virtual-reality mine rescue training that could model issues leading to emergencies like the Los Angeles tunnel collapse.

Ron Bowersox, retired United Mine Workers of America health and safety field operations director, observed that NIOSH has worked to advance mine roof support.

Roof falls have caused three U.S. fatal mine incidents since September, according to federal Mine Safety and Health Administration records, including one at a Logan County mine that left Gary Chapman, 33, dead on Sept. 6, 2024.

“We have a lot of problems in mines with roof support,� Bowersox said, “and NIOSH isn’t there.�

That’s because NIOSH has been gutted by President Donald Trump's administration, disrupting mining research and other programs that occupational safety experts say are critical to avoid disabling injuries, illnesses and deaths in the workplace.

Safety advocates say Trump administration “reduction in force� notices and contract terminations have halted key NIOSH research amid a mass downsizing at the Department of Health and Human Services, NIOSH’s parent agency.

Nearly a dozen unions, including UMWA, allege in a federal lawsuit to restore NIOSH staff cuts that more than 400 of just over 1,000 NIOSH civil service employees received notice on April 1 that their positions would be eliminated in June, and that hundreds of NIOSH contractors who work with other NIOSH staff to support NIOSH programs also received notice of their termination.

Just shy of 400 more NIOSH civil service employees got RIF notices on May 2 with a separation date of July 2, most of whom also were placed instantly on paid administrative leave, the complaint contends.

On July 1, a Rhode Island federal judge granted a preliminary injunction to a coalition of Democratic-led states that challenged cuts across HHS, finding HHS had “failed to produce a shred of evidence that services to States and access to critical information would continue uninterrupted, that the harms are minimal or not irreparable, or that it is authorized to act absent Congressional action.�

The injunction blocked HHS from acting to enforce planned RIFs or restructuring.

But national reports emerged Monday that HHS was moving forward with its RIF plans, notifying some employees who got RIF notices in April that they were “officially separated� from the agency as of the close of business Monday.

HHS also sent out correspondence citing the Rhode Island preliminary injunction order as the reason the agency was moving forward only with “a portion� of its RIF, indicating employees covered by the injunction on administrative leave would remain so.

A U.S. Supreme Court order last week cleared a path for the Trump administration to move forward with mass federal layoffs by lifting a California-based judge’s blockage of layoffs while a case proceeded.

Safety experts familiar with NIOSH mining research programs say there’s been no substantial work since April 2, no funding to spend, no meetings with stakeholders and cancellation of extramural contracts.

HHS did not respond to a request for comment.

The effective elimination of NIOSH mining research divisions in Pittsburgh and Spokane, Washington, as alleged by occupational safety advocates in and out of federal court, threatens to end or dramatically scale back projects they have taken on, including strengthening roof supports, analyzing toxic silica dust and destigmatizing mental health.

“So everything's in a standstill,� said Kyle Zimmer Jr., member of the Mine Safety and Health Research Advisory Committee, a federally mandated panel that advise the HHS secretary on mine safety and health research.

'We're not sure what the plan is'

Safety advocates say an increasing number of NIOSH employees are taking jobs outside the agency amid the legal limbo.

“They have families. The family pressure is on,� Zimmer said. “It's not a good place to be.�

Even an eventual restoration of NIOSH research jobs won’t undo damage inflicted by the slipping away of institutional knowledge and project stagnation in recent months, NIOSH allies fear.

“It is not flip a switch and everything will be exactly the same as it was on March 30,� Schafrik said.

HHS’ proposed fiscal year 2026 budget would preserve its allotment of $66.5 million for mining research, creating confusion but suggesting the door may not be closed to extending programs whose futures are unclear.

“We’re not sure what the plan is there,� Schafrik said.

The $66.5 million budget amounts to $1,497 for every U.S. underground and surface mine employee, per Energy Information Administration data for 2023.

“We’re not talking about a massive, humongous program, especially within the government,� Schafrik said. “It already is a small-budget organization.�

Preventative mining research work in peril   

Mine research remains on the chopping block even after the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia in May ordered HHS to restore jobs that it had cut from the NIOSH Respiratory Health Division. That unit has powered the Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program, which has provided black lung screening and miner medical reviews.

The preventative work of NIOSH mining research divisions in Pittsburgh and Spokane has complemented rather than duplicated the diagnostic work that restored Respiratory Health Division employees have performed.

The Pittsburgh Mining Research Division has focused on coal, stone, sand and gravel mining, while the Spokane Mining Research Division has focused on deep underground metal mines and large open pits, with both collaborating on projects. Both the Pittsburgh and Spokane divisions have studied how to control mine dust and protect miners from dust exposure.

Mine safety experts say the HHS cuts have halted NIOSH extramural programming funding universities, manufacturers and operators to develop innovative safety and health technologies.

NIOSH extramural programs have included 18 Education and Research Centers that provide interdisciplinary graduate and post-graduate training in occupational safety and health disciplines.

Both the Pittsburgh and Spokane mining research divisions were working on near-real-time silica analysis projects and had contract efforts curtailed by HHS “reduction in force� notices and contract terminations, per mine safety experts.

Mine safety experts and advocates say permanently gutting NIOSH mining research personnel would eliminate the research capability needed to sustain what had been a planned miner safety and health research facility on a 465-acre site in Randolph and Pocahontas counties. In March 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which houses NIOSH within HHS, announced it had acquired the site.

A November 2024 draft report making recommendations for capabilities at the site by a lab working group said the new facility should be “designed as a comprehensive, state-of-the-art research platform� and be a “proving ground for new technologies and mining methods,� with research related to automation, robotics, battery testing and hydrogen storage and refueling.

“By focusing on a multi-hazard approach, incorporating advanced infrastructure, and fostering collaborative partnerships, the [Underground Mine Safety and Health Research Laboratory] facility can significantly contribute to advancing mine safety and health research,� the draft report concluded.

Wide range of NIOSH units reported as shut down

Nearly two dozen unions have alleged in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that HHS also has shut down NIOSH’s:

• Division of Science Integration, which converts NIOSH scientific research into practical guidance and recommendations, including identifying and contending with toxic materials
• Field Research Branch, Health Informatics Branch, and Engineering and Physical Hazards Branch of the Division of Field Studies and Engineering, which has performed field-based exposure assessments and epidemiological studies to address workplace hazards
• Health Effects Laboratory Division, which has conducted laboratory research to combat workplace safety and health hazards, including work activity simulation model development and study of work-related immune diseases
• Office of Extramural Coordination and Special Projects, which has been responsible for extramural grants and cooperative agreements, funding and coordinating occupational safety and health-focused Education and Research Centers at universities across the nation

NIOSH is required under federal code to permanently establish a mine safety and health office to enhance “development of new mine safety technology and technological applications and to expedite the commercial availability and implementation of such technology in mining environments.�

'It is a shame'

West Virginia’s congressional delegation hailed the May restoration of NIOSH Respiratory Health Division positions, framing it as a win for the state given the return of jobs within that unit to NIOSH’s Morgantown site.

But West Virginia’s members of Congress have been quiet on the bigger, bleaker NIOSH picture.

Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., told HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during a May Senate subcommittee hearing she didn’t think eliminating NIOSH programs would “right-size our government.�

HHS announced in March it would combine NIOSH with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Health Resources and Services Administration, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry into a newly created Administration for a Healthy America, or AHA.

HHS said it aimed to downsize from roughly 82,000 to 62,000 full-time employees via early retirement and voluntary resignation initiatives.

Zimmer and other miner safety advocates say they’ve been urging members of Congress to tout NIOSH’s importance.

“We're continuing to try to find an advocate in the HHS so we can explain to the decision-makers our position and what, in fact, the mining program does, and how they do it,� Zimmer said.

The goal, Zimmer says, remains restoration of NIOSH to its pre-RIF state.

The challenge is great, but miner allies say the stakes are greater.

“We’re talking about developing the science for the safety of American miners, and by extension, the miners around the world,� Schafrik said. “So it is a shame that it is often perceived as being a partisan topic when it really shouldn't be. One of the most precious resources of the United States is the American miner.�