The Congress created the U.S. Bureau of Mines (BoM) in 1910. Soon thereafter it requested assistance from the Public Health and Marine Hospital Service, which would become the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) in 1912. During this period, the BoM enlisted PHS Medical Officers to be assigned to several mine rescue (rail) cars, which spawned investigations of silicosis. Two years after its creation, the PHS established the Office of Industrial Hygiene and Medicine (the forerunner to NIOSH), and it would build a history of cooperation with the BoM. This cooperation included joint investigations of the toxicology of several chemicals including tetraethyl lead. The Federal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 authorized both the BoM and PHS as research units for mine safety and health. In 1971, NIOSH was formed from the PHS Bureau of Occupational Safety and Health. The Federal Mine Safety and Heath Amendment Act of 1979 provided that NIOSH conduct research for health standards, whereas the Act required that the BoM conduct research related to safety standards. In 1995, the Department of Interior abolished the BoM, and two of its laboratories became part of NIOSH.
Learning Objectives: 1. List three sources of controversy over the last century in protecting miner safety and health. 2. Articulate the history of NIOSH and its predecessor organizations as related to its work with the Bureau of Mines over the last century. 3. Describe the demise of the Bureau of Mines and the assimilation of its safety research functions into NIOSH.
Keywords: History, Workplace Safety
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.