EVALUATION OF THE NIOSH PERSONAL PROTECTIVE TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM

Leslie Boord

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Personal Protective Technology (PPT) Program has a mission to prevent work-related injury, illness and death by advancing the state of knowledge and application of personal protective technologies. The NIOSH PPT Program mission is carried out through three major activities: research, policy and standards development and respirator certification. As part of the NIOSH portfolio of programs the PPT Program recently completed an independent, expert evaluation to assess effectiveness of the program in the three area of activity. Effectiveness was assessed regarding the relevance and impact of program activities. The evaluation was performed at the request of NIOSH by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies (NA). The IOM assembled an expert panel to conduct the review over a nine month period. In addition to scoring the program for relevance and impact the IOM identified five recommendations for PPT Program improvement in broadening the program’s breath in order to protect workers more effectively from hazardous workplace exposures, illnesses and injuries. A summary of the IOM evaluation findings for the PPT Program is provided along with recommendations for improvement