By Mike Tony, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has operated in West Virginia for decades to make work safer.
Now it’s the agency’s work that is in danger.
The danger doesn’t end there, work safety advocates say.
“We need to do everything we possibly can to get the word out that people’s lives are at risk,” said Carey Clarkson, who represents Department of Labor employees for the National Council of Field Labor Locals union.
The NIOSH, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention within the Department of Health and Human Services, is a research agency that studies worker health and has contributed decades of critical findings to support safer workplaces, including miners in West Virginia and throughout central Appalachia.