Jul 17, 2025 2 min read

Earlier this spring, virtually all employees from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) – a federal organization focused on worker safety and health – received reduction-in-force (RIF) notices. Some NIOSH employees have had their RIF notices rescinded, including those from the Coal Workers’ Health and Surveillance Program (CWHSP), commonly called “the black lung program.” Both of these NIOSH programs are vital to the coal industry in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The purpose of this letter is to clarify the CWHSP and the NIOSH Mining Program roles and to provide updated RIF statuses for both.

The CWHSP, or black lung program, is housed under the NIOSH Respiratory Health Division in Morgantown, W.Va. This program provides free black lung screenings for miners. In addition, the program trains and certifies physicians to read chest X-rays of workers exposed to coal mine dust, crystalline silica, and asbestos. This work of this program provides critical services related to lung disease in miners due to exposure over time; it is not preventative in nature. Finally, the black lung program is NOT part of the NIOSH Mining Program.

The NIOSH Mining Program – consisting of the Pittsburgh and Spokane Mining Research Divisions – conducts unbiased research to reduce the risk of mine disasters, to improve post-disaster survivability, and to reduce traumatic injuries, fatalities, and occupational illnesses. The NIOSH Mining Program – which traces its origins to the US Bureau of Mines – works in all mine-related safety and health areas including explosion and fire prevention, ventilation, cave-in prevention (ground control), dust exposure, wireless technologies, heat stress, musculoskeletal disorders, noise, emergency response, and others. The Mining Program also funds mining schools and universities to enhance the research activities of the program and to ensure the mining industry has needed expertise in mining engineering. Mining Program activities are preventative in nature.

In May, black lung program workers were reinstated. However, NIOSH Mining Program employees have not been reinstated, even though the proposed 2026 Administration for a Health America (AHA) budget includes funding for mining research.

I hope this letter clarifies the differences between the NIOSH black lung program and the NIOSH Mining Program, and the RIF statuses of their employees. Please contact your congressional representatives and other decision-makers to advocate for the full reinstatement of the NIOSH Mining Program and its essential role in protecting miner safety and health.

Joe Kazmersky

Pittsburgh