Region 4 News Release:   USDOL: 01-150
Friday, Sept. 14, 2001
Contact: Charlie Anderson
Phone: (404) 562-2300

OSHA APPOINTS COMPLIANCE ASSISTANCE SPECIALISTS
In Alabama: Birmingham and Mobile

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has appointed nine compliance assistance specialists to area offices in four Southeastern states: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Florida. The specialists will ensure that large and small businesses throughout the region get the technical assistance they need to comply with workplace safety and health standards.

Working with businesses, business associations, labor organizations and other stakeholders, the new specialists will provide training, education and compliance assistance, particularly to those who have been reluctant to seek OSHA assistance in the past. It is hoped that an active partnership between these OSHA "advisors" and the business community will increase compliance and save lives.

"Most employers want to do the right thing," said Cindy Coe, OSHA's Atlanta regional administrator. "They just need information on how to do it."

Coe emphasized that the compliance assistance specialists are separate and distinct from the agency's enforcement program. "We want to assure employers that contacting one of these highly trained professionals for responses to questions, assistance in establishing a safety and health program, or help with addressing workplace hazards will not trigger any kind of OSHA enforcement action."

According to the regional administrator, experience has shown that effective outreach and education, along with a targeted enforcement program, will achieve greater voluntary compliance and reduced injuries, illnesses and fatalities. "We're excited about working with others who want what OSHA wants -- to send workers home healthy and whole at the end of each workday."

The compliance assistance specialists have been assigned to the following OSHA area offices:
Alabama: Birmingham - Virginia Simmons, (205) 731-1534, ext. 144; Mobile - William Bice, (251) 441-6131; Florida: Ft. Lauderdale - Vergie Bain, (954) 424-0242; Jacksonville - Mark Davis, (904) 232-2895, ext. 3019; Tampa - Joan Spencer, (813) 626-1177; Georgia: Atlanta East/Tucker - Jonathan Worrell, (770) 493-5400; Atlanta-West/Smyrna - Marilyn Velez, (770) 984-1253; Savannah - Phillip Moncrief, (912) 652-4393; Mississippi: Jackson - Courtney Bohannon, (601) 965-4606, ext. 35.