Commercial Fishing Safety Seen Threatened by NIOSH Cuts
- The Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA) is the latest group to warn on cuts to funding and jobs at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), noting that the cuts could end programs that are “critical” for commercial fishing safety in Alaska.
- The director of AMSEA said that the funding for those safety programs saves millions of dollars every year by reducing the need for costly Coast Guard search and rescue operations.
- “Termination of NIOSH means funding for AMSEA’s Alaska programs could end by July 1, 2025, and West Coast, Gulf, and Southeast programs by September 1, 2025, the group said on its website.
- Teaching fishermen safety skills doesn’t completely eliminate fatalities in the dangerous profession, but it has reduced them by roughly 80% since NIOSH first introduced its commercial safety fishing programs in 1985, according to AMSEA director Leann Cyr.
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Mine Safety Agency Cites NIOSH Uncertainty for Pause on Silica Rule Compliance
- The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has issued a temporary enforcement pause on its stringent respirable crystalline silica regulation for four months.
- The rule requires mine operators to update their respiratory protection programs and may result in operators obtaining additional respirators and sampling devices.
- The “Lowering Miners’ Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica and Improving Respiratory Protection Act,” became effective on June 17, 2024.
- Coal operators had been facing an April 14, 2025, compliance deadline, significantly shorter than the two-year grace period granted to the Metal/Nonmetal (M/NM) industry, which has until April 8, 2026.
- The new compliance deadline is Aug. 18, 2025.
- “Given the unforeseen NIOSH restructuring, and other technical reasons, MSHA offers this four-month temporary pause to provide time for operators to secure necessary equipment and otherwise come into compliance,” the announcement said.
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Minnesota Advances Safety Measures for Underwater Plant Works
- The Minnesota State Senate has passed a bipartisan bill that sets new safety requirements for aquatic plant removal companies that use scuba divers.
- The bill was spurred on by the drowning deaths of two men during their first weeks on the job performing underwater weed removal in 2022 and 2024.
- Neither had the proper equipment or training required for safe diving operations—gaps this legislation aims to close.
- The bill would require open-water scuba certification for all employees involved in aquatic plant removal diving, mandatory use of buoyancy devices and illuminated dive beacons, and on-site supervision by a trained individual with CPR/first aid certification and prior diving experience.
- Federal OSHA investigations resulted in $750,000 total in fines for the workers’ two employers.
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