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Remarks Prepared for Delivery by
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
DOL Safety Day
Washington, DC
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Thank you, Pat [Pizzella, Assistant Secretary for Administration
and Management]. Good morning everyone! It's great to see you
all here today to help us kick off DOL Safety Day.
As many of you know, June is National Safety Month. And workers all over
the country are taking the opportunity to learn how they can be part of
a safer, healthier workplace.
At the Department of Labor, we have a lot to be proud of. Thanks to the
great work of our health and safety professionals and their partners,
worker injuries and workplace fatalities in the private sector are at
record lows!
I'm especially proud of the great job that OSHA and MSHA are doing.
OSHA has consistently exceeded its inspection targets and is continuing
to reach out to workers through the Voluntary Protection Program—or VPP.
Since 2001, the number of workplace fatalities has been reduced by 6
percent. That includes an 8.2 percent reduction in the
construction industry, and an 11.6 percent decline in fatalities among
Hispanic workers.
And for four years in a row, MSHA helped the United States mining industry
set its best safety records since statistics were first compiled in 1910.
Mining fatalities dropped 35 percent between 2000 and 2004, to the lowest
level ever. The total injury rate in the nation's mines
fell 22 percent over the same period—a remarkable achievement in an industry
as complex as mining. These successes have been brought about by firm,
fair enforcement, an active compliance assistance program and education
and training— MSHA's Triangle of Success.
That's a tremendous record of accomplishment that we all can be proud
of.
We just don't talk about health and safety for others, however, we practice
what we preach right here at the Department. The SHARE initiative—Safety,
Health and Return-to-Employment—challenged us with four specific goals
to improve safety and health. And we have exceeded all four of
these goals. The Department has:
- Reduced the number of workplace
injury and illness cases by 3 percent;
- Reduced lost time due to workplace
illness and injury by 3 percent;
- Improved the timeliness of filing
notices of injuries and illnesses by 5 percent; and
- Reduced the number of worker's
compensation cases that resulted in time away from work by 2 percent.
And as a result, Department of Labor employees are safer and healthier
on the job than ever before.
The health and safety we practice here at work can be extended to other
aspects of life. That's why—through the Office of Work-life and Benefits
Programs—the Department helps employees with eldercare, healthy lifestyles
and safety at home. In fact, OASAM has arranged a number of health-related
exhibits, screenings and presentations as part of DOL Safety Day. I hope
you will visit these displays and learn more about these services and
how they can help you and your family.
Day-to-day safety is very important. As you know, I have put considerable
emphasis over the past four years on ensuring that the Department is prepared
for emergency situations. We hope that we will never have to face an emergency
or disaster. But if we do, I want to ensure that the Department is prepared
to protect each and every one of you. So we have refined and tested the
Department's safety protocols. The Department's shelter-in-place program
is a model for other federal agencies. I want to thank everyone who has
put so much work into this important initiative. Those safety drills have
really worked!
Before we close, I would like to congratulate the agencies that will
be recognized today for helping the Department reach its SHARE goals:
- ETA, for Total Case Rate;
- OSHA, for Lost Time Case Rate;
- BLS, for Lost Production Days;
- OASAM, for Timeliness; and
- MSHA, for most improved overall.
Congratulations to all of these agencies on their success!
And thank you all for everything you do to help make the Department of
Labor, and every workplace in America, safer and healthier for our nation's
workers!
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