Manufacturing Program

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Manufacturing Program works with partners in industry, labor, trade associations, professional organizations, and academia. The program focuses on these areas among manufacturing workers:

• Preventing injuries and fatalities from contact with objects and equipment
• Preventing work-related illnesses such as musculoskeletal disorders and respiratory disease
• Reducing exposure to occupational safety and health hazards
• Evaluating new and emerging technologies, both for potential risks to workers and for ways these technologies might protect workers.

• Published a reportpdf icon on Field Evaluation of a Mobile Dust Control Booth for Stone Countertop Grinding.
• Published posters on health and safety information to protect workers when 3D printing with filaments and 3D printing with metal powders.
• Created a seminar series, Manufacturing Mondays, to highlight research conducted in the sector. Both full length presentations and rapid-fire presentations from chosen cross sectors were held virtually. Attendance at the webinars includes external partners and other interested stakeholders.
• Published a study that found free (no polymer) carbon nanotubes and nanofibers and their bundles in air samples collected at a manufacturing plant that uses three-dimensional printers with thermoplastic filaments containing carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibers.
• A webpage, “Small Business Respiratory Protection and Face Covering Guide” was posted by the COVID-19 workgroup in 2022.
• Established a COVID-19 workgroup led by external partners that meets to discuss topics of interest to the Manufacturing sector. The group published a webpage hosted on the National Association of Manufacturers website on pandemic ventilation resources for workplaces.
• Published a paper, “Effective and Efficient Ventilation for a Healthy Work Environment during Aircraft Painting.”
• As part of the COVID-19 pandemic response, published  MMWR: Factors That Might Affect SARS-CoV-2 Transmission Among Foreign-Born and U.S.-Born Poultry Facility Workers — Maryland, May 2020.

• Publish additional reports on stone countertop grinding to reduce occupational exposures to respirable crystalline silica during manufacturing and finishing.
• Publish an analysis of the risk of developing work-related rotator cuff syndrome using separate or specific combinations of biomechanical risk factors.
• Host additional seminars in the Manufacturing Mondays series.
• Disseminate additional research on aircraft painting exposures through conference presentations, journal articles, and participation in American Society for Heating Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers committees.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics