NIOSH Databases

The NIOSH Web site features many different types of databases and information collections. The most popular databases include the International Chemical Safety Cards, NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards, and NIOSHTIC-2.

Chemical

• Adult Blood Lead Epidemiology and Surveillance (ABLES) Interactive Database
  Work related exposure to inorganic lead continues to be an important health problem worldwide. To further the goal of reducing lead exposures in adults, NIOSH makes available to the public health community lead exposure data through this interactive database.
• Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health (IDLH)
  Provides the immediately dangerous to life or health air concentration values (IDLHs) for substances and the criteria and information sources that have been used to determine these values.
• International Chemical Safety Cards (WHO/IPCS/ILO)
  ICSC cards summarize essential health and safety information on chemicals for their use at the "shop floor" level by workers and employers in factories, agriculture, construction and other work places.
• Manual of Analytical Methods (NMAM)
  NMAM is a collection of methods for sampling and analysis of contaminants in workplace air, and in the blood and urine of workers who are occupationally exposed.
• NIOSH Pocket Guide To Chemical Hazards (NPG)
  The NPG is intended as a source of general industrial hygiene information on several hundred chemicals/classes for workers, employers, and occupational health professionals.
• The Emergency Response Safety and Health Database (ERSH-DB)
  Developed by NIOSH for the emergency response community, The ERSH-DB contains accurate and concise information on high-priority chemical, biological and radiological agents that could be encountered by personnel responding to a terrorist event.
• Occupational Safety and Health Guidelines for Chemical Hazards
  Summarizes information on permissible exposure limits, chemical and physical properties, and health hazards. It provides recommendations for medical surveillance, respiratory protection, and personal protection and sanitation practices for specific chemicals that have Federal occupational safety and health regulations.
• OSHA 1988 Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs)
  PELs are OSHA comments from the January 19, 1989 Final Rule on Air Contaminants Project extracted from 54FR2332 et. seq. This rule was remanded by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the limits are not currently in force.
• Specific Medical Tests Published in the Literature for OSHA Regulated Substances (MEDTEST)
  The MEDTEST database lists the specific medical tests published in the literature for OSHA regulated substances. Updates of OSHA mandated tests (July 1, 2000) and NIOSH/OSHA recommendations are included.
• SENSOR-Pesticides Database
  The SENSOR-Pesticides database contains information on 5,200 acute occupational pesticide poisoning cases who were exposed between 1998-2006.

Injury, Illness & Hazards Data and Information

• Job Exposure Matrix for Power-Frequency Magnetic Fields
  A population-based job exposure matrix (JEM) was published in 2007 to assess personal exposures to power-frequency magnetic fields (MF) for epidemiologic studies. The JEM compiled 2317 MF measurements taken on or near workers by 10 studies in the United States, Sweden, New Zealand, Finland, and Italy. The job descriptions were coded into the 1980 Standard Occupational Classification system (SOC) and the 1980 job categories of the U.S. Bureau of the Census.  The JEM database consists of Excel spreadsheets with arithmetic and geometric means for each occupational category, plus their arithmetic and geometric standard deviations.
• Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program
  The Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program concentrates on investigations of fatal occupational injuries. The primary intent of this program is to provide interested users with access to the full text of hundreds of fatality investigation reports.
• Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program
  Each year an average of 105 fire fighters die in the line of duty. To address this continuing national occupational fatality problem, NIOSH conducts independent investigations of fire fighter line of duty deaths to formulate recommendations for preventing future deaths and injuries.
• Power Tool Sound Levels Database
  This is an informational database of power tools commonly used in the occupational setting.  The database was developed by NIOSH and includes data gathered by NIOSH researchers.  The database is particularly helpful in determining the "real-world" noise level of power tools as they are used on the job. The database contains such information as sound power levels, sound pressure level and downloadable exposure and wave files.  Further, links to the NIOSH Hearing Protector Compendium are included to assist in choosing appropriate hearing protection.
• Compendium of NORA Research Projects and Impacts, 1996-2005
  The Compendium of NORA Research Projects and Impacts contains over 400 brief descriptions from researchers who responded concerning their research projects identified as NORA from 1996-2005.
• Hearing Protector Device Compendium
  This compendium, as of June 2003, contains data from 23 manufacturers nationwide (down from 53 in the 1994 compendium) on 292 hearing protectors (up from 241 in the 1994 compendium).
• HHE Health Hazard Evaluations (HHEs)
  NIOSH conducts Health Hazard Evaluations (HHEs) to find out whether there are health hazards to employees caused by exposures or conditions in the workplace.
• Life Table Analysis System
  Life table analyses originated as a form of survival analysis in which survival times are grouped into intervals. Hazard or incidence rates are calculated for each interval. The NIOSH Life Table Analysis System was created primarily to analyze cohorts defined by occupational exposures.
• National Occupational Exposure Survey (NOES)
  NOES contains data collected by NIOSH from 1981 to 1983 on potential occupational exposures to chemical, physical, and biological agents in a broad spectrum of U.S. industries. It can be used to associate potential exposures with industry types, occupations, observed exposure conditions, and other parameters.
• National Occupational Respiratory Mortality System (NORMS)
  An interactive query system designed to generate statistics, charts, and maps relating to mortality from occupationally-related lung diseases.
• Organization of Work: Measurement Tools for Research and Practice
  Organization of work refers to the work process and the organizational practices that influence job design, including how jobs are and human resource policies are structured. This Web site enhances research in this priority area by providing a means for researchers to quickly and easily identify available instruments for measuring organizational characteristics that may be useful for advancing research on the associations between work organization and worker safety, health, and well-being.
• Worker Health Chartbook, 2004
  The Worker Health Chartbook, 2004 is a descriptive epidemiologic reference on occupational morbidity and mortality in the United States. A resource for agencies, organizations, employers, researchers, workers, and others who need to know about occupational injuries and illnesses, the Chartbook includes more than 400 figures and tables describing the magnitude, distribution, and trends of the Nation’s occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities.
• Work-Related Injury Statistics Query System (Work-RISQS)
  Work-RISQS provides a web-based public access query system for obtaining national estimates (number of cases) and rates (number of cases per hours worked) for nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments. Users may interactively query based on demographic characteristics, nature of injury/illness, and incident circumstances for the years 1998 and 1999.
• Work-Related Lung Disease (eWoRLD) Surveillance System
  The WoRLD report presents information on various work-related respiratory diseases and associated exposures in the United States, and describes where these diseases are occurring (by industry and geographic location), who is affected (by race, gender, age, and occupation), how frequently they occur, and temporal trends.
• Standardized Occupation and Industry Coding (SOIC)
  The Standardized Occupation and Industry Coding (SOIC) software automates the coding process for industry and occupation (I&O) narratives from death certificates, cancer registries, and other record systems. The software assigns codes according to the 1990 Bureau of the Census industry and occupation codes and supplemental codes from the National Center for Health Statistics. This site provides a downloadable version of the SOIC software and User’s Manual as well as other SOIC information and installation resources.

Data and Statistics

• PMR Statistics Database
  The PMR statistics database query system generates precalculated age-adjusted proportionate mortality ratio (PMR), summary statistics, in the form of tables for three age groups (15-54, 15-64, and 65 plus), race, and gender, for about 500 occupational groups and about 300 industry groups that are used by the population-based PMR analysis program.
• Workplace Data and Statistics
  This Workplace Data and Statistics page provides quick access to a broad range of CDC/NIOSH surveillance resources connected to research initiatives across the Institute. Use the page as a central checkpoint for the latest NIOSH surveillance data and statistical resources as well as important NIOSH historic surveillance information.
• Worker Health eChartbook
  The eChartbook is a descriptive epidemiologic reference on occupational morbidity and mortality in the United States.

Publications

• NIOSHTIC-2
  NIOSHTIC-2 is a bibliographic database of occupational safety and health publications, documents, grant reports, and other communication products supported in whole or in part by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
• State-based Occupational Health Surveillance Clearinghouse
  This State-based Occupational Health Surveillance Clearinghouse website was created by NIOSH to promote public access to surveillance and related occupational health outputs from its state partners. This website provides a user interface to the Clearinghouse where the original state publications can be accessed.

Respirators and Other Personal Protective Equipment

• CBRN APR NIOSH Approved Respirators
  This site provides information for determining if a given APR is certified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for use by emergency responders in a potential CBRN situation. It also provides a list of devices that have been certified by NIOSH for such use.
• CBRN SCBA NIOSH Approved Respirators
  This site provides information from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) on testing and certifying self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) for use by emergency responders in chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) environments.
• Certified Equipment List (CEL)
  The CEL is a database of all NIOSH certified respirators and coal mine dust personal sampler units.
• NIOSH-Approved Disposable Particulate Respirators (Filtering Facepieces)
  Provides a listing of NIOSH-approved disposable particulate respirators that health care workers can use to help protect themselves from diseases potentially spread through the air, such as SARS or Tuberculosis.

Agriculture

• National Agriculture Safety Database (NASD)
  NASD is a collection of information about health, safety and injury prevention in agriculture. The information in the database was contributed by safety professionals and organizations from across the nation in an effort to promote safety in agriculture.

Construction

• Electronic Library of Construction Safety and Health (ELCOSH)
  ELCOSH provides a wide range of materials on construction safety and health. The goal is to improve safety and health for construction workers by making such information easier to obtain than in the past.

Safety and Prevention

• Schedule of NIOSH-Approved Spirometry Training Courses
  NIOSH approves a spirometry training course when it determines that the course meets the minimum OSHA/NIOSH criteria for the instruction of individuals who perform spirometry in the cotton textile industry. Course approval does not mean that an individual taking the course is certified as a pulmonary function technician. Upon successful completion of a NIOSH-approved course, students are provided with a course certificate by the course director.
• NIOSH B Reader List
  B Readers, through their demonstrated proficiency in classifying radiographs of the pneumoconioses, are appropriate choices for research, surveillance, and worker monitoring programs and activities. NIOSH has employed B Readers in many epidemiologic and other research studies for nearly 30 years, as have many other organizations. B readers must be retested every four years to retain their status and remain on this list.
• Mine X-ray Plans Due for Renewal
  A list of the underground coal mining operations, recently notified by NIOSH of the requirement to provide chest x-rays to their employees. This information is being made available for NIOSH-approved x-ray providers interested in increasing participation in the NIOSH Coal Workers' X-ray Surveillance Program (CWXSP).
• NIOSH Approved X-ray Facility Database
  Facilities (hospitals, clinics, mobile health units) must be approved by NIOSH before they are used to take chest x-rays for the Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program (CWHSP).