Federal workplace safety workers say gutting their agency will lead to preventable deaths on the job

More than 100 current and former employees of a federal agency charged with ensuring workplace safety warn that American workers face a greater risk of death and injury on the job as the Trump administration slashes the organization’s ranks.

More than 100 current and former employees of a federal agency charged with ensuring workplace safety warn that American workers face a greater risk of death and injury on the job as the Trump administration slashes the organization’s ranks.

In a letter to Congress, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health employees say that the agency’s mission is at risk due to the administration’s actions over the past several months.

“Without us, more workers will suffer preventable deaths, illnesses, and injuries,” the current and former NIOSH employees wrote in the letter, obtained exclusively by NBC News ahead of it being sent to members of Congress.

The letter is being sent to all of Congress but is directed at Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and its ranking member, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., ahead of the committee’s scheduled meeting with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to discuss President Donald Trump’s proposed HHS budged for the 2026 fiscal year.

NIOSH is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the Department of Health and Human Services.