Who does the research to guide OSHA's policies?

1970: OSHA and NIOSH are Created
NIOSH, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, was created in 1970 at the inception of OSHA, to conduct research and make recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. NIOSH is a branch of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).  [NIOSH website]

NIOSH is not a regulatory agency. It does not issue safety and health standards that are enforceable under US law. Rather, NIOSH's authority under the Occupational Safety and Health Act [29 CFR § 671] is to "develop recommendations for health and safety standards", to "develop information on safe levels of exposure to toxic materials and harmful physical agents and substances," and to "conduct research on new safety and health problems." OSHA's job is to carry out these recommendations, and assure that workers are not exposed to toxic materials and harmful physical agents in the work environment.

1991: Environmental Tobacco Smoke in the Workplace
In 1991, NIOSH produced Bulletin 54, which specifically addressed the problems of "Environmental Tobacco Smoke in the Workplace". After reviewing all the current scientific literature regarding secondhand smoke, NIOSH concluded that "employers should ... take steps to reduce exposures to the lowest feasible concentration" and "until tobacco use can be completely eliminated, employers should protect nonsmoking workers from ETS..." Other recommendations of Bulletin 54 included:

• Prohibit smoking at the workplace and provide sufficient disincentives for those who do not comply
• Distribute information about health promotion and the harmful effects of smoking
• Offer smoking-cessation classes to all workers
• Establish incentives to encourage workers to stop smoking

1998: Building Air Quality Action Plan
In 1998, NIOSH published the BAQ (Building Air Quality) Action Plan. This plan calls for businesses, and other managers of buildings which employ workers, to establish an action plan to reduce the dangers of indoor air pollution. Below are some significant quotes from the document:

BAQ Action Plan

"U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) studies that compare risks of environmental threats to public health consistently rank indoor air pollution (including secondhand smoke, radon, organic compounds and biological pollutants) among the top five."

"Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) can be a source of irritation and is known to cause cancer. Establishing a smoking policy that protects occupants and visitors from exposure to ETS is essential to maintaining good IAQ (indoor air quality) in your building. To accomplish this, you should institute a smoking policy that prohibits smoking or restricts smoking to areas that are separately ventilated, maintained under negative pressure and directly exhausted to the outside."

[Note: OSHA and NIOSH use "environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)" and "secondhand smoke (SHS)" to mean the same.]