Firefighter Cancer Registry Grows 65% YTD

The cumulative number of participants in NIOSH’s National Firefighter Registry for Cancer reached 29,968 earlier this month, up from 18,243 at the start of the year, according to the NIOSH dashboard.
All U.S. firefighters, with or without cancer, no matter their length of service can join the NFR.
The highest number of participants are from Colorado, Arizona and Florida.
Nearly all of the participants, 90.5% are male. However, the 9.5% share held by female participants mirrors that 9% of U.S. firefighters are women, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
Enrollment in the Registry opened in April 2023.
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The percentage of employees in the general U.S. workforce testing positive for fentanyl in random drug tests was more than 700% higher than those in pre-employment testing, according to the 2025 Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index.
The testing lab operator said that while overall workplace urine drug positivity declined slightly last year, to 4.4% from 4.6%, the sharp increase in fentanyl in random drug checks suggests more workers are using the opioid after they have passed pre-employment screens.
A large percentage of fentanyl positives were also found to be positive for amphetamines, 16% in 2024 compared to 11% in 2020.
Marijuana positivity following workplace accidents also remains high, 7.3% last year, which wa just below 2023’s record high of 7.5%.
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While the majority of employers fear the possibility of an OSHA workplace investigation, many of these same companies fail to pay appropriate attention to notices of complaint from state or federal OSHA programs, even when such inattention can lead to a follow-up workplace inspection, according to Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein attorney Jonathan Crotty.
Writing on the firm’s blog, Crotty said that OSHA programs send notice of complaint letters to employers as the result of a complaint lodged with the agency.
“The decision to send a letter instead of having an investigator knock on the business’ door can result from a number of factors. OSHA may not believe that the facts provided likely indicate workplace safety violations, or those alleged conditions may not pose a serious risk of employee injury,” he wrote.
Crotty advised that ff employers submit a prompt, comprehensive response to the complaint letter, in most cases OSHA will close the matter without further inquiry.
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Warning that staffing cuts and a possible closure would jeopardize mine safety work that serves about 3,000 miners in the state, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Jessica Shirley has asked federal leaders to maintain operations at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s Pittsburgh lab.
In a letter last week to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Shirley said “losing this facility will impede advancements in mine safety, harm the mining industry, and put workers at risk.”
Shirley told Kennedy and HHS that several multiagency work groups have benefited from the Pittsburgh lab’s expertise, including committees on stone mine pillars and chain pillars in coal-gas settings.
Work underway before the staffing cuts also examined lithium-ion battery use in underground mines, the letter said.
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