Workplace Safety

The Bush Administration interfered with the independence of an important research review committee on workplace safety by rejecting the appointment of qualified scientists, apparently on political grounds.

At the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the Safety and Occupational Health study section provides peer review of applications for research grants to study workplace injuries, basing ranking decisions on the scientific merit of the proposals. In 2002, Secretary Thompson rejected three new members nominated by the NIOSH director, all scientists with excellent credentials.[1] The proposed members were Dr. Laura Punnett, an ergonomics expert and professor at the University of Massachusetts; Dr. Catherine Heaney, a professor at Ohio State University who has published extensively on workplace safety; and Dr. Manuel Gomez, Director of Scientific Affairs at the American Industrial Hygiene Association.[2]

The rejections appear to be based on political grounds. Science reported that one of the rejected nominees, Dr. Laura Punnett, is an expert in ergonomics who had testified publicly in favor of efforts to reduce musculoskeletal injuries.[3] Shortly after taking office, President Bush sided with industry groups by signing a repeal of a national regulation to prevent musculoskeletal injuries.[4] Such injuries affect over 1 million workers each year, and the Institute of Medicine has found that ergonomic standards in the workplace would significantly reduce this burden.[5] Dr. Punnett said upon her rejection, “I think it conveys very powerfully that part of the goal is to intimidate researchers and limit what research questions are asked.”[6]

The head of the study panel, Dr. Dana Loomis of the University of North Carolina, commented: “Regardless of what the intention was, this creates the appearance that review panel members are being politically scrutinized, which is directly opposed to the philosophy of peer review, which is supposed to be nonpolitical and transparent.”[7]

[1] Advisors Put under a Microscope, Los Angeles Times (Dec. 23, 2002).

[2] HHS Intervenes in Choice of Study Section Members, Science (Nov. 15, 2002). Several of Dr. Heaney’s recent publications are listed at http://sph.osu.edu/school/faculty/publications.cfm?id=7. Dr. Gomez is Director of Scientific Affairs at the American Industrial Hygiene Association, one of whose core values is “The right of workers and the community to a healthy and safe environment” (online at www.aiha.org).

[3] Id.; Laura Punnett, Testimony before the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, Hearings to Examine the Costs, Benefits and Feasibility of the Occupational Safety and Health Administrations Ergonomics Standards, 107th Cong. (Apr. 26, 2001).

[4] “Last-Minute” Spin on Regulatory Rite; Bush Review of Clinton Initiatives Is Said to Reshape Rules, Washington Post, A1 (June 9, 2001).

[5] Institute of Medicine, Musculoskeletal Disorders and the Workplace: Low Back and Upper Extremities (Jan. 17, 2001) (online at http://www.nap.edu/books/0309072840/html/).

[6] HHS Intervenes in Choice of Study Section Members, supra note 2, at 298.

[7] Advisors Put under a Microscope, supra note 1.