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NAOSH Week Kicks Off Next Monday
WASHINGTON -- Due to the efforts of many,
millions of people go to and return home
safely from work every day. To celebrate
this and honor those who didn’t make it
home, thousands of safety professionals will
be promoting workplace safety during the
annual North American Occupational Safety
and Health Week May 4-10.
In the U.S. alone, 5,840 workers died from
on-the-job injuries in 2006 and millions
more suffered workplace injuries and
illnesses. These can be prevented. As part
of this effort, ASSE, OSHA, the Canadian
Society of Safety Engineering (CSSE), the
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
(FMCSA) and 72 corporations and associations
will offer tools, best practices and
solutions on how these and future accidents
can be prevented and illustrate how safety
is good business.
The 32,000 ASSE SH&E professionals
work day in and day out identifying hazards
and implanting safety and health advances in
all industries and at all workplaces, aimed
at eliminating workplace fatalities,
injuries, and illnesses. Businesses that
have adopted safety into their core business
strategy continue to see how safety
contributes positively not only to their
bottom line, but to the company's brand and
reputation and employee and vendor morale.
Workplace safety also contributes to a
reduction in health insurance and workers
compensation costs and provides a safe
working environment for employees and for
the community they do business in.
Society as a whole benefits when there are
fewer accidents and on-the-job injuries
increasing everyone's quality of life.
Please note:
·
Businesses
spend about $170 billion a year on costs
associated with occupational injuries and
illnesses – it is estimated that U.S.
employers
pay almost $1 billion every week to injured
employees and their medical care providers;
·
Each year
families, friends, and co-workers of victims
of on-the-job accidents suffer intangible
losses and grief, especially when proper
safety measures could have prevented worker
injury or death;
·
Our society
has long recognized that a safe and healthy
workplace positively impacts employee
morale, health, and productivity; and
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A recent
study done by Goldman Sachs JBWere showed
valuation links between workplace safety and
health factors and investment performance –
they found companies who did not adequately
manage workplace safety and health issues
underperformed those who did -- suggesting
that workplace safety and health factors
have potentially greater effectiveness at
identifying underperforming stocks.
For
NAOSH National Kick-off Events, go to
http://www.asse.org/naosh08.
Founded in 1911, the Des Plaines, IL-based
ASSE is the largest and oldest professional
safety organization and is committed to
protecting people, property and the
environment. It has more than 32,000+
occupational safety, health and
environmental professional members. For
NAOSH information/list of supporters please
go to
http://www.asse.org/naosh08.
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