Labor secretary stresses worker safety

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6959448.html

By L.M. SIXEL Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle
April 14, 2010, 9:57PM

Vowing to step up health and safety enforcement, U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis was in Houston on Wednesday calling for more worker education and empowerment so employees know their rights to safe workplaces.

Solis made her remarks before the department's first-ever conference on Latino worker health and safety. The two-day event, which ends today, is drawing about 1,000 attendees including workers, employers, safety consultants, labor unions and advocacy groups.



Billy Smith II : Chronicle

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis speaks Wednesday during the National Action Summit for Latino Worker Health and Safety.


“These senseless deaths have to stop,” said Solis, after asking for a moment of silence to honor the 29 coal miners who died recently after a mine explosion in West Virginia.

“And of course we know it's not just mine workers that need protection,” Solis said. “It's housekeepers, carwash workers, meatpackers, construction workers, farmworkers and janitors. In other words, it's all workers.”

Nearly 100 workers die on the job each week, said Solis, who showed a new commercial reminding employees they have a right to a safe workplace. “Workplace safety enforcement and oversight have to be stepped up.”
Relying on employees

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, she said, doesn't have the resources to inspect all the nation's workplaces and is relying on employee and employer education and training to improve safety and health. If necessary, the agency will use the stick of large fines, said Solis, who urged Congress to pass the Protecting America's Workers Act to increase the penalties when a worker dies or is seriously injured.

FULL story at link.