The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) recently joined with the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) and the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) in urging a commitment to safe work be a focus in the Congressional Jobs Bill, HR 2847, now under consideration.

In a letter to Senator Richard J. Durbin (D-IL), ASSE urged the Senator to help ensure that the jobs to be created through HR 2847, the appropriations bill for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science, and related agencies, are safe jobs — with protection from possible on-the-job injuries and illnesses.

In urging this action, the group also noted recent Bureau of Labor Statistics on worker fatalities involving stimulus package jobs and the call by U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to Cabinet Secretaries to consider worker safety and health in planning for stimulus projects.