AltNIOSH

Alright y'all, we're calling it for now on our first AMA! Thank you so much for your questions. If you have more, leave them and we'll get to them ASAP; we're always happy to help share useful info ❤️. Make sure to save some for next time though 👀

a cartoon character wearing glasses and a black jacket is standing in front of a wall with a hand on it ALT: a cartoon character wearing glasses and a black jacket is standing in front of a wall with a hand on it

Second contender for that GIF, but didn't win out because too much is not possible

Beaker is our favorite muppet, and not just because he’s an excellent example of what can happen when there’s no workplace safety.

We should have warned you not to look for pictures!! Sooo sorry!

They are a horrible but informative reminder of all workers' rights to a safe workplace and of the awful human cost that is paid when that right isn't respected.

10. Even stormtroopers deserve a safe workplace. They could start with better firearm safety though.

Think of OSHA as the enforcement arm of occupational safety. NIOSH is the science arm. We enable evidence-based policy and decision making that benefits workers. The two compliment each other.

WTC's culling was met with particularly strong outrage, and so much of it was undone (for now). However, NIOSH is a lean, mean, highly interconnected research machine. So WTC benefits and will work most effectively in a fully funded and staffed NIOSH.

What's great about NIOSH's Health Hazard Evaluation program is that it allows any worker's concerns to be heard. Don't want to get into too many specifics, but let's just say every worker benefits from our HHEs!

Silica and Worker Health Information and guidance on health risks from respirable crystalline silica exposures to workers.

Linked is a good starter pack and primer on silicosis! All certified filters/respirators for particulates will work as guaranteed. The cheapest of those would be the trusty N95 that everyone's become familiar with over the last few years.

Wear respiratory protection if you're going to be around any kind of dust or respiratory irritant! Human lungs don't care about what the human brain they serve thinks about masks. And plenty of those human brains have gotten some wild ideas about said masks since COVID emerged!

Gotta be learning about phossy jaw, and radium jaw, the Triangle Fire, etc in high school history.

So NIOSH doesn't actually regulate! That is one way we're able to work so effectively WITH industry on emerging issues to make workplaces safer. However, our research both results from and drives regulation. The MINER Act is one example of this!

Another excellent option

Say less, we're on the way rn 😍

Mmm flavored milk

Additional, highly topical answers from our hivemind: Donna Summer’s “She Works Hard for the Money” AND “9 to 5”.

Can't speak for USGS, but the evidence certainly does more than suggest that public safety and health in general is extremely low on the priority list.

National Center for Productive Aging and Work Promotes lifelong well-being for workers and encourages a productive aging workforce.

These are really great questions that merit additional research! The National Center for Productive Aging and Work is hosted by NIOSH to address those questions, but like all things, it needs funding, the researchers to not all be fired, and to exist as an organization in order to pursue that!

That's OSHA's domain we think, but the 2nd one!

The 5 species of Alaskan salmon, which spend most of their lives in the ocean before returning to rivers to spawn.

Old-school wheaties that look like a hay bale in a lake of milk are where it's at.

Yup! And maybe most important, they also train the next generation of occupational public health folks!

Stew. Final answer.

What's a little silicosis among friends?

Right now? Enshrined funding with no financial or personnel cuts to continue NIOSH's work. In 2023 and/or if that happened? The establishment of evidence-based heat safety standards for workers.

If we had to pick real, formalized body systems, I'd pick the (immuno)respiratory system or the lymphatic system. Tbh, innate immunity is the true under-appreciated gem. I love adaptive as much as anyone, but it just doesn't spark the same joy.

I'm a Pink Pony Person myself.

Lots of 'em. This answerer's fave recent one is Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I'm a sucker for sci-fi.

Hmmm. In my experience there was nothing too crazy, but an important random factoid is we work with 18 academic education and research centers that work to advance the field of occupational health and train new experts in it. Funding for those extramural programs is all *very* threatened.

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