But according to a dozen current and former NIOSH employees and union representatives who have worked at or with their personal protective equipment division, that lab has halted almost all of its regular work and is preparing to shut down in June.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because of the most recent announcement of layoffs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The agency, run by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has announced plans to lay off 10,000 employees across its various divisions. Hundreds of those cuts are in NIOSH, the division that studies and recommends ways to prevent workplace health and safety hazards.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of the sabotage of guide rails that have been set up for industry to help keep workers safe,\u201d said Jonathan Szalajda, a lab employee and former deputy director of the National Personal Protective Technology Lab. \u201cIt\u2019s a situation where we\u2019re leaving workers defenseless, and I think it\u2019s certainly a step back from what we\u2019ve done to protect workers over the last half century.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the beginning of mass layoffs at federal agencies overseen by the Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), virtually every employee at the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory has taken a buyout or early retirement offer, been put on administrative leave, or received a notice that their job is subject to what\u2019s called a \u201creduction in force\u201d and that their last day will come in June.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not clear if the impending layoffs will hit every remaining employee because, according to workers and union officials, leaders at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control have not been answering questions. Moreover, almost all of the lab\u2019s supervisors have been placed on administrative leave, along with their HR contact.<\/p>\n
The reduction in force notices are confusing as well. Some sent out to individual employees note that layoffs will happen in their division, and they may or may not be subject to them. But another sent to the union that oversees the bargaining unit employees at the National Personal Protective Technology Lab said all of their jobs would be eliminated. Virtually every lab employee that isn\u2019t part of that union has already been placed on leave or told their position will be terminated in June.<\/p>\n
Given the lack of communication, and the sweeping layoffs that have hit other parts of the federal government, including NIOSH itself<\/a>, employees at the personal protective equipment division are expecting the worst.<\/p>\n Already, the lab\u2019s workforce has shrunk from 120 to 70 this year, and the remaining employees are facing layoffs that the Department of Health and Human Services says will come in June.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services did not answer detailed questions about what would happen to NPPTL employees or the respirator certification program, but said NIOSH, \u201calong with its critical programs\u201d will be rolled into a new, restructured health agency called the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA).<\/p>\n \u201cThis restructuring is intended to support the consistent implementation of safety standards without disruption to ongoing regulatory processes,\u201d they said in an email.<\/p>\n However,\u00a0multiple<\/a> outlets<\/a> have reported on a purported draft budget for the new health agency, which would not include funding for NPPTL.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Budget includes funding for a Firefighter Cancer Registry and National Mesothelioma Registry & Tissue bank as well as the World Trade Center Health and the Energy Employees Occupational Illness compensation Program Act mandatory programs. Funding for all other NIOSH programs is discontinued,\u201d the document reads.<\/p>\n The Department of Health and Human Services Spokesperson did not respond to questions on the veracity of the draft budget or which critical programs would continue after the restructuring.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have no idea what we\u2019re supposed to do,\u201d said one remaining lab employee who spoke under condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. \u201cWe have no idea what to tell the manufacturers. This is so important, we just feel there\u2019s no way this can be real.\u201d<\/p>\n Szalajda said the lab has stopped accepting requests from manufacturers to certify new respirators. The remaining lab employees who weren\u2019t laid off have shifted their focus to preparing for the lab to be shut down.<\/p>\n New research has also stopped because of time constraints and a freeze on federal employee credit cards that has made it impossible to buy necessary materials.<\/p>\n Instead, workers are finalizing research projects that are near completion, and preparing them for publication.<\/p>\n Szalajda and others have said they expect the lab\u2019s closure to result in the market being flooded with substandard masks.<\/p>\n Along with certifying new products, lab employees regularly inspect respirator manufacturing plants and test masks that have already been approved to ensure they\u2019re still being manufactured to NIOSH standards. That work, however, has stopped, largely because of a freeze on approval of employee travel reimbursement. According to Szalajda, the lab has also stopped sending out contractors because they\u2019re not certain they\u2019ll ever be paid given the rapid changes.<\/p>\n Szalajda worries about \u201ca Wild West scenario\u201d where respirator manufacturers are free to cut corners in production, and no one will be there to catch them.<\/p>\n One of the last research projects that lab employees are working to finalize is a comprehensive study on the efficacy of counterfeit masks. It\u2019s unclear if the report will ever be released to the public.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cThe American public, if you\u2019re buying a respirator or a mask to do home improvements or hobbies or anything, you\u2019re going to be at the mercy of those companies to not become lax,\u201d said Linda Chasko, a NIOSH employee who was speaking in her capacity as vice president of the federal employees union that includes the Allegheny County NIOSH campus employees.<\/p>\n The potential closure has also alarmed industry members, who have spent significant time and money ensuring their respirators meet NIOSH standards, and rely on the certification for new products.<\/p>\n The closure of the lab could also cede the respirator market to foreign companies whose products are tested according to their own government\u2019s standards. NIOSH certification, however, had often been referred to as a \u201cgold standard,\u201d Szalajda said.<\/p>\n During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, KN95 masks were often billed as an alternative to N95s, which were at times difficult to find. The primary difference is that KN95s were certified in China. However, issues were found<\/a> with a number of certified KN95s, which led to numerous recalls.<\/p>\n There is also a fear that counterfeit masks will spread. Part of the Personal Protective Technology Lab\u2019s mission was to find and study respirators with fake NIOSH-approval stamps, and work with distributors to stop their spread.<\/p>\n One of the last research projects that lab employees are working to finalize is a comprehensive study on the efficacy of counterfeit masks. They found that virtually all of them failed to consistently meet NIOSH standards for filtering air particulates. Between an HHS communications freeze and uncertainty that the report can be finalized before the lab closes, it\u2019s unclear if the report will ever be released to the public.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re expecting there could potentially be an influx of counterfeit equipment,\u201d said Chasko. \u201cWhat\u2019s at stake is the respiratory health and overall health of all the workers in industries that use equipment reliant on NIOSH standards.\u201d<\/p>\n The lab\u2019s closure could also cause problems for certain industries, like coal, where companies are statutorily required to provide NIOSH-certified respirators for miners. It\u2019s unclear what will happen if NIOSH is no longer able to provide that certification.<\/p>\n For example, every underground coal mine is required by law to provide specialized respirators called closed-circuit escape respirators. They\u2019re for the worst case scenario: escaping a deadly and low-oxygen environment where something has likely gone very wrong.<\/p>\n Those respirators are not just approved by NIOSH, but regularly audited by the lab to ensure they still work after being stored in harsh underground conditions with heavy dust exposure. The same masks are also required in certain Navy ships.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have found failures,\u201d one employee said about their regular audits.<\/p>\n Personal protective equipment researchers in Morgantown, West Virginia, the other NIOSH office where research on respirators and protective gear is done, were also hit with layoffs.<\/p>\n One Morgantown NIOSH employee who worked with the personal protective equipment team on firefighter safety recommendations was notified on April 1 that they would immediately be placed on administrative leave. That will end with their termination on June 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, they\u2019re hoping the decision will be reversed, and requested anonymity for fear of being targeted in the event that some employees are brought back.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were told it was just going to be a consolidation \u2026 that the scientists would not be let go,\u201d the employee said about the layoffs, which have affected almost everyone at the Morgantown NIOSH campus. \u201cBut the scientists went in the first round.\u201d<\/p>\n Cathy Tinney-Zara, president of the federal employee union that represents the Morgantown NIOSH employees, said almost all work at the division has stopped, with almost everyone put on administrative leave ahead of terminations in June.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t believe how confusing it\u2019s been,\u201d Tinney-Zara said. She said leaders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have not been communicating with union officials. She can\u2019t even provide an exact number of workers who have been told they\u2019re being laid off.<\/p>\n Mostly, she gets updates through the news like everyone else. Most recently, U.S. Rep. Riley Moore, a West Virginia Republican, said some of the layoffs at the Morgantown facility, which does extensive work on coal miner safety, were made in error. But Tinney-Zara hasn\u2019t been able to confirm that or find out where he got that information.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a real tragedy,\u201d Szalajda said about the lab\u2019s closure and cuts at NIOSH. \u201cFor people who work in this business, it\u2019s not just the paycheck. It\u2019s a lifestyle. People who have been involved within our division, they work there because of a mission, the attractiveness of doing something that makes a difference in people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n But Szalajda is hopeful that HHS may still reverse course. He and other employees are waging something of a pressure campaign by reaching out to lawmakers, industry partners and media.<\/p>\n Moreover, he believes that even if the lab, or most of NIOSH, is shut down now, one day it will be replaced. But it may be a hard learning curve for whoever\u2019s brought in to get it running. He expects many of the most experienced people on staff now, would not return.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just kind of a recipe for disaster,\u201d Szalajda said. \u201cIt may not be something that happens right away, but there will be some sort of incident that will show the void of what\u2019s been left from stepping away, and someone will have to own the travesty that comes after that.\u201d<\/p>\n Image description: Illustration of a white N95 respirator torn into two pieces, with violet background. Based on image by Rossie C S from Pixabay.<\/p>\n Article originally appeared in the Pennsylvania Capital-Star<\/a>. Read the original article<\/a>. The article is licensed under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 generic licence<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u2018Someone will have to own the travesty\u2019<\/h3>\n
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