Millions of Workers’ Lives are in Danger– Speak Up Now!

Make your voice heard

Dear Secretary Kennedy Jr.,

Millions of Americans, including nurses and other health care workers, depend on respirators, like N95s, to protect their health and their families– but only if they work as intended.

Cuts to staffing for HHS programs like the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) endanger workers lives. NIOSH’s National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) evaluates and certifies every N95 and other respirator model to ensure that it meets performance criteria before it can be sold.

The importance of NIOSH’s respirator certification process was clearly illuminated during the emergency response to the Covid-19 pandemic, when uncertified and counterfeit respirators that did not filter hazards out of the air sufficiently flooded the market. NIOSH/NPPTL worked quickly, in collaboration with other agencies, to ensure that workers had fully certified respirators to protect them.

Cutting the staff at NPPTL endangers respirator evaluation and certification processes that workers and consumers depend on to protect their health from infectious diseases, smoke, and other airborne hazards. Other programs at NIOSH also provide important research, training, and evidence to protect workers and their families and are in jeopardy with the staff cuts.

We are calling on you to rescind these cuts and reinstate NIOSH staff immediately. Workers’ lives are on the line.

Send the Letter

Respirators, like N95s, save workers’ lives–but only if they actually filter the air. The United States has had a robust certification process where every model of N95s and other respirators are tested to make sure they meet performance standards before they can be sold. This program is at risk because of new job cuts from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Use this form to send an email opposing these cuts. We are demanding reinstatement of strong worker protections!

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