NIOSH: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

NIOSH research is key to these efforts and provides practical solutions to identified problems. The Institute’s work in this area protects the safety and health of the nation's 155 million workers. NIOSH provides the only dedicated federal investment for research needed to prevent the societal cost of work-related fatalities, injuries and illnesses in the United States, estimated in 2007 at $250 billion in medical costs and productivity losses alone . These safety and health risks take huge tolls on workers, their families, businesses, communities, and the nation’s economy; NIOSH works to promote a healthy, safe and capable workforce that can rise to the challenges of the 21st Century.