Remarks Prepared for Delivery By U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao Fourth China International Forum on Work Safety

Thank you, Vice Premier Zhang [Dejiang, of China's State Council], Vice Minister Zhao [Tiechui, of the State Administration of Work Safety],and Vice Minister Liang [Jiakun, of China State Administration of Work Safety]. I would also like to thank Vice Minister Liang and Director-General Bai Ran [of the State Administration of Work Safety] for the contribution you have made to the U.S.-China cooperation on work safety since 2002.

I have received numerous invitations in the past to attend this international summit and I'm very pleased to finally be able to participate in the important discussions here at the Fourth China International Forum on Work Safety.

In June of 2004, the United States and China signed two historic Letters of Understanding to share expertise to improve the health and safety of workers in both our countries. The letters were signed by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration and their Chinese counterparts. There have been many exchanges between our two departments, sharing best practices and exchanging information to help protect workers and miners. Together, the United States and China have made strides in enhancing the occupational safety and health of workers. But there is always more to do. So last year our two countries agreed to extend this cooperation for another four years.

Our relationship and cooperation are part of the longer history of workplace and mine safety in the United States. The United States has been working to reduce workplace and mine accidents and fatalities for over a century. The Safety Appliance Act was the first law governing workplace safety in the United States. It was passed in 1893 and required that certain safety devices be used on railroads. The first mine safety law was passed in 1891. Among other things, it prohibited children under the age of 12 from working in mines and established minimum ventilation requirements. The U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration was created in 1970 with the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The Mine Safety and Health Administration was created in 1977 with the passage of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act. This law was most recently updated in 2006 with the passage of the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act. These laws make up the foundation of the law governing workplace and mine safety in the United States. As you can see by this brief history, the United States is continually looking for opportunities to improve the health and safety for our workforce.

This forum provides one such opportunity. Here, many nations are able to come together and share health and safety expertise that can benefit workers. Today let me to share some insights into this Administration's approach to occupational safety and health, which has helped our country achieve record results over the past eight years.

In America, our workforce is approximately 155 million. And workers and employers are encouraged to work together to create a workplace culture that makes safety a number one priority. Strong enforcement of workplace health and safety laws is, of course, one key to lowering injury and illness rates for workers. But to truly make safety a priority, it is critical to go beyond enforcement. There are simply not enough resources in the world to place a monitor or inspector at every worksite in the country. In this Administration, the Department of Labor reaches out to employers and workers to educate them about their respective health and safety responsibilities in the workplace. We also work with employers and workers to create collaborative health and safety training partnerships in the workplace. The goal is to be proactive — to prevent as many injuries and illnesses as possible from occurring in the first place.

One area where collaboration is possible is education and training. Education and training — for OSHA and MSHA staff as well as employers and workers themselves — are critical to our efforts to reduce workplace and mine accidents, injuries and illnesses. That's why the Department, through OSHA, manages a network of 26 education centers that provide safety and health training. These centers provide training not only to workers, but to employers. And, where appropriate, this training is available to individual workers on the Internet. In addition to direct educational opportunities for workers and employers, the Department also has provided instruction to health and safety teachers. These teachers go out into the private sector and teach the basics of occupational safety and health to others. Last year, the Department set new records for training — nearly 30,000 people were trained at the Education Centers. And nearly 680,000 took 10 and 30 hour workplace safety and health training courses through the Outreach Training Program.

MSHA, through its National Mine Safety and Health Academy located in Beckley, West Virginia, conducts education and training for the entire mining industry. In 2007 alone, MSHA conducted 1,525 course days of instruction and provided over $8 million in grants for health and safety training courses across America.

On the education front, the internet has proven to be a tremendous medium for government to communicate health and safety information to workers and employers. Under the President's Electronic-Government or E-gov initiative, the Department of Labor has continually expanded the health and safety information offered on the internet. The E-gov web site links to government safety and health standards, regulations, helpful guidance documents, and a site where any citizen may search the safety inspection history of an employer anywhere in the country.

I hope you would visit www.dol.gov and the MSHA and OSHA web sites located at www.msha.gov and www.osha.gov to take a look at how we are using technology to improve workplace safety and health. Using the internet to deliver this information is cost effective for employers and easy to access for workers.

Education is one area where collaboration works. Let me share with you one other example where collaboration on issues of health and safety has proven to be very effective as well — OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program, or VPP. Participants in this program commit to exceeding OSHA requirements and pursue superior workplace safety and health injury and illness rates. And the results are measurable. VPP companies report injury and illness rates more than 50 percent below their expected rates. Today, more than 2,000 worksites participate in VPP, which covers nearly 800,000 working men and women all across America. Based on National Safety Council data for 2005, VPP participation — and the resulting improvement in work conditions, fewer injuries and illnesses — provided an annual savings to employers of $230 million.

The success of the Voluntary Protection Program has caught the attention of several nations that have asked the Department about VPP's principles and successful results. In fact, in October of this year, Northern Ireland launched its "Recognising Excellence Programme," which is modeled after the U.S. VPP program. This is a direct outgrowth of several years of exchanges between our two nations.

Programs like the VPP are made possible when workplace and mining health and safety are top priorities and the agencies charged with enforcement and education are given the resources they need in order to succeed. The United States spends nearly $1 billion a year on workplace and mine safety. In fiscal year 2008, OSHA had a budget of $486 million and a full time staff of 2,118. These kinds of resources allowed OSHA to carry out its mission. It conducted 39,324 workplace inspections, 31,911 employer consultations, and trained over 522,000 students through the OSHA outreach-training programs. In fiscal year 2008, MSHA had a budget of almost $334 million, and 2,306 full time staff. By law, MSHA is required to complete four inspections annually for active below-ground mines and two inspections annually at active above-ground mines. MSHA services more than 2,100 coal mines and 12,700 metal and nonmetal mines today.

In addition to education and collaboration, there is the need for strong, fair and effective enforcement of our workplace and mine safety laws. Since 2000, MSHA has increased its number of enforcement actions by 66 percent, from 3,222 in 2000 to 5369 in 2007. The total number of citations and orders issued increased 21 percent from 120,053 in 2000 to 144,735 in 2007. In 2007 alone, MSHA assessed over $74.5 million in fines, an increase of 197 percent from the amount assessed in 2000. OSHA conducted 39,324 inspections in fiscal year 2007, and found a total of 88,846 violations. When enforcement is effective and fair, it is an important way to help protect safety and health in the workplace.

Effective enforcement means efficient enforcement. There will never be enough inspectors, so it is critical to target enforcement efforts to the areas that need it the most. One area where we have seen considerable success is through OSHA's Site Specific Targeting program. By using new technology, this program identifies employers with the highest injury and illness rates. With the information from this program, OSHA is able to focus its inspections and audits on the employers who need the most attention. In the last year alone, OSHA was able to gather information from over 80,000 employers, which resulted in identifying 3,000 employers in need of strengthened health and safety programs. By effectively using technology, we have been able to do more, and do it in an economical and time efficient manner.

All of these methods, when used together, have been effective — and the numbers prove it.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the key indicators of workplace safety and health — injury, illness and fatality rates — are at the lowest levels since the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970.

For the sixth consecutive year, the rate of workplace injuries and illnesses in the U.S. private sector has declined. The rate fell from 4.4 cases per 100 workers in 2006 to 4.2 cases in 2007. This represents a 4.5 percent decline over the past year and a 21 percent decline in the workplace injury and illness rate over the past six years.

And, more importantly, workplace fatalities in all industries in the United States declined in 2007 by 6 percent. While these statistics are still preliminary, this data suggests that last year's fatality rate is 3.7 per 100,000 workers — the lowest ever recorded.

In terms of mine safety, since 2001, fatality rates for all mines have declined by 27 percent, the non-fatal "days lost" Rate has been reduced by 33.8 percent, and the All-Injury-Rate has been reduced by 33 percent. In 2007, mining fatality and injury rates had been reduced by approximately 30 percent compared to averages of the 1990s.

This downward trend is evidence that when government works with employers and workers and creates the right balance between education and enforcement, these problems can be solved.

But there is always more to do. Even one workplace fatality is one fatality too many. Mine safety is going to be even more important as our country continues to work its way through the energy challenges of the 21st century.

Our increasingly global economy presents many challenges that every government and workforce must face. It is important to hold this conference, in which so many countries are participating. The workforce in each of our countries is each of our countries' most valuable resource.

Thank you.

Source