New NIOSH Dashboard Highlights Its Health Hazard Evaluations

A new dashboard launched recently by NIOSH is intended to illustrate the impact of the agency’s health hazard evaluation (HHE) program since its inception. HHEs are a free service offered by NIOSH during which agency staff assess workplace hazards and recommend ways that employers and others can eliminate or reduce hazards identified during NIOSH’s evaluations. 

The new interactive tool allows users to understand how the program has responded to HHE requests across the United States and specifies the number of requests by state and industry sector. The dashboard also features a breakdown of how many requests were initiated by employees, management, union representatives, the government, or other sources. Published HHE reports are also available.

According to the new dashboard, NIOSH’s HHE program has responded to 17,718 requests nationwide. Most of the requests have come from the services industry sector, followed by manufacturing; healthcare and social assistance; transportation, warehousing, and utilities; and wholesale and retail trade. In many cases, HHE staff provide workplaces with letters that offer recommendations and resources based on NIOSH’s review of information from specific workplaces without on-site visits. When program staff conduct on-site HHEs at workplaces, they usually publish their findings in final reports, which are published online.

More information about the HHE program, including how to request an HHE, can be found on the NIOSH website.