Please Vote \"No\" to President\'s Fiscal 2013 budget proposal eleminating Education & research fund
President's Fiscal 2013 budget proposes the elimination of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Education and Research Centers (ERCs) and the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Program (AFF).
I am writing to express my deep concern that the President's Fiscal 2013 budget proposes the elimination of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Education and Research Centers (ERCs) and the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Program (AFF).
NIOSH-ERC funded educational and research activities throughout the USA and specifically supporting New Jersey Institute of Technology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and universities in New YorkState.
Each year almost 1.2 million workers are injured seriously enough to require time off work and, daily, an average of 14,000 U.S. workers sustain disabling injuries on the job, 13 workers die from an injury suffered at work, and 146 workers die from work-related diseases. This burden costs industry and citizens an estimated $4.8 billion per week.
The mission of the ERCs is to reduce work-related injuries and illnesses in the U.S. by performing prevention research and by educating, through degree programs and continuing education, high-quality professionals who daily implement programs to improve occupational health and safety and minimize the dangers faced by workers across the country. Collectively, the 17 university-based Education and Research Centers provide training and research resources to every Public Health Region in the United States. The ERCs provide programs in a unique group of disciplines that benefit employers of all sizes in every part of the country. Many centers are collaborative efforts among several institutions in their region. Reduced funding for the ERCs would limit the ability of workers to avoid exposures that can result in injury or illnesses, push back improved working conditions, reduce or eliminate occupational safety and health educational services to over 10,000 U.S. businesses, and ultimately raise health care costs.
Due to its decentralized nature and diverse structure, agriculture, forestry and fishing lags other industries in reducing the toll of work-related injuries and illnesses on its workers. Its fatality rate is more than 7 times that of the all-industry average. In addition, more than 1 in 100 AFF workers experience nonfatal injuries resulting in lost work days each year, and this reported figure does not even include men, women, and youths on farms with fewer than 11 full-time employees. In addition to the harm to individual men, women, and families, these deaths and injuries inflict serious economic losses including medical costs and lost capital, productivity, and earnings. The annual cost of agricultural occupational injuries has been estimated to exceed $4 billion in direct and indirect dollars.
Agricultural safety and health has been an important focus of NIOSH for more than 20 years and NIOSH leads the nation in surveillance and research efforts for this workforce. Through the 9 regional Centers for Agricultural Disease and Injury Research, Education, and Prevention, and a National Childre
NIOSH-ERC funded educational and research activities throughout the USA and specifically supporting New Jersey Institute of Technology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and universities in New YorkState.
Each year almost 1.2 million workers are injured seriously enough to require time off work and, daily, an average of 14,000 U.S. workers sustain disabling injuries on the job, 13 workers die from an injury suffered at work, and 146 workers die from work-related diseases. This burden costs industry and citizens an estimated $4.8 billion per week.
The mission of the ERCs is to reduce work-related injuries and illnesses in the U.S. by performing prevention research and by educating, through degree programs and continuing education, high-quality professionals who daily implement programs to improve occupational health and safety and minimize the dangers faced by workers across the country. Collectively, the 17 university-based Education and Research Centers provide training and research resources to every Public Health Region in the United States. The ERCs provide programs in a unique group of disciplines that benefit employers of all sizes in every part of the country. Many centers are collaborative efforts among several institutions in their region. Reduced funding for the ERCs would limit the ability of workers to avoid exposures that can result in injury or illnesses, push back improved working conditions, reduce or eliminate occupational safety and health educational services to over 10,000 U.S. businesses, and ultimately raise health care costs.
Due to its decentralized nature and diverse structure, agriculture, forestry and fishing lags other industries in reducing the toll of work-related injuries and illnesses on its workers. Its fatality rate is more than 7 times that of the all-industry average. In addition, more than 1 in 100 AFF workers experience nonfatal injuries resulting in lost work days each year, and this reported figure does not even include men, women, and youths on farms with fewer than 11 full-time employees. In addition to the harm to individual men, women, and families, these deaths and injuries inflict serious economic losses including medical costs and lost capital, productivity, and earnings. The annual cost of agricultural occupational injuries has been estimated to exceed $4 billion in direct and indirect dollars.
Agricultural safety and health has been an important focus of NIOSH for more than 20 years and NIOSH leads the nation in surveillance and research efforts for this workforce. Through the 9 regional Centers for Agricultural Disease and Injury Research, Education, and Prevention, and a National Childre
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