NIOSH Seeks Comments on Research Agenda for Workplace Respiratory Health
A new draft National Occupational Research Agenda published by NIOSH lists ten strategic objectives for preventing work-related respiratory disease. According to the agency, work-related exposures make a substantial contribution to the overall burden of respiratory diseases in the U.S. NIOSH researchers recently concluded that new nonmalignant occupational respiratory diseases represent the most numerous type of occupational illness in the country.  The draft document is NORA’s first respiratory health agenda. Listed among its objectives are preventing and reducing work-related interstitial and dust-related lung diseases, advancing the protection of workers who respond to disasters, and advancing the assessment of occupational exposures for the study of respiratory health. The agenda also urges efforts to advance the understanding of how acute and lifetime occupational and non-occupational exposures affect respiratory health. A notice published in the
Federal Register
explains that the agenda “was developed considering new information about injuries and illnesses, the state of the science, and the probability that new information and approaches will make a difference.” The draft National Occupational Research Agenda for Respiratory Health is available as a PDF in the docket on
Regulations.gov
. NIOSH invites comments on the draft agenda until May 14, 2018. Instructions for submitting comments are available in the Federal Register
notice
. NORA is a partnership program that was created in 1996 to identify and address critical issues in workplace health and safety. Learn more on NIOSH’s
website
.
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