Databases and Information Resources

The NIOSH Web site features many different types of databases and information resources. They are categorized here by Chemical; Injury, Illness & Hazards Data and Information; Publications; Respirators and Other Personal Protective Equipment; Agriculture; and Construction. The most popular databases include the International Chemical Safety Cards, NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards, and NIOSHTIC-2.

Chemical

• 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.

Injury, Illness & Hazards Data and Information

• 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.
  
  
• Nanoparticle Information Library (NIL)
  The Nanoparticle Information Library (NIL) is intended to help occupational health professionals, industrial users, worker groups, and researchers organize and share information on nanomaterials, including their health and safety-associated properties.
  
  
• 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.

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.

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.