Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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Introduction
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) was es-
tablished by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (U.S. Congress, 1970).
Today, the agency is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIOSH is charged with
the responsibility to “conduct . . . research, experiments, and demonstrations relat-
ing to occupational safety and health” and to develop “innovative methods, tech-
niques, and approaches for dealing with [those] problems” (U.S. Congress, 1970).
Its research targets include identifying criteria for use in setting worker exposure
standards and exploring new problems that may arise in the workplace. NIOSH
does not have the authority to establish or enforce regulations for workplace safety
and health. Regulatory and enforcement authority rests with such agencies as the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and
Health Administration (MSHA).
STUDY CHARGE AND EVALUATION COMMITTEE
NIOSH asked the National Academies to conduct reviews of as many as 15 of
its research programs with respect to their impact on and relevance to reducing
workplace injury and illness and to identify directions for future research. The
NIOSH Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Research Program (the AFF Program)
is the third to undergo such evaluation: the Hearing Loss Research Program and
the Mining Safety and Health Research Program were the first two programs evalu-
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