Ground Zero’ Worker Safety Accord Signed (11/21/01)

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao joined the Construction Industry Partnership (CIP), contractors, representatives from the City of New York, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) in signing a worker safety agreement for the World Trade Center (WTC) Emergency Project.

The “WTC Emergency Project Partnership Agreement” was formalized at the CIP’s recent annual Safety Conference. The safety conference was co-sponsored by the Building Trades Employers’ Association (BTEA), the Building and Construction Trades Council (BCTC) and New York Construction News. CIP is made up of the BTEA and BCTC.

“I made a special trip to support the signing of this partnership agreement because it means so much to the Americans who are working tirelessly at Ground Zero,” Chao said.

“The work going on right now at Ground Zero continues to be painful, sad and necessary. It is important to all of America and it is also perilous. We have been fortunate that there have been no fatalities at the WTC site since Sept. 11. The recovery effort is a noble but dangerous job,” she continued.

“Terrorists have made it one of the most hazardous workplaces in America. The partnership we have formed will make it safer. To lose any more lives at the WTC site would compound a tragedy. This Administration is determined not to let that happen,” Chao said.

“At the U.S. Department of Labor, we have been committed to the safety and health of these workers from the start. OSHA has been providing around-the-clock assistance to identify and facilitate the correction of safety and health hazards,” she added.

She also said, “This partnership will ensure, going forward, that the site is safe and healthy for workers as they restore the site. In the aftermath of Sept. 11, efforts first focused on the search and rescue efforts. As we transition from rescue and recovery to recovery and rehabilitation of the site, we must ensure the safety and health of the workers at the site. We are united as a people, focused and committed to doing the right thing. This agreement is a reaffirmation of that unity.”

John Henshaw, the Assistant U.S. Secretary of Labor for OSHA, added, “Our role is to identify hazards on a given day, inspect riggers and cranes and address issues. When issues come up, we work with labor and management to abate them. Safety is and will be No. 1. It will save lives and reduce injuries.”

In addition, he noted that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “is working on the asbestos issue. And OSHA is working with the EPA.”

Continuing, Henshaw said OSHA has taken over 2,2000 environmental samples since Sept. 13 and found that exposure levels are well below recognized levels. However, “respirators are used because things change daily.”

Patricia Clark, OSHA’s regional administrator, said that the ever-changing environment at the WTC site “is the biggest hazard on the site. She described the changing environment as a changing rubble pile with fires burning below it, movement of the rubble pile and void spaces below it. As a result, this ever-changing environment creates unique hazards that have and will continue to be addressed.”

AMEC Vice Chairman John Cavanagh estimated on Nov. 20 that approximately six months more of debris removal work remains and that half of it has already been removed.

He noted that “the fires continue. It is the longest commercial fire that has ever occurred at a site. A volume of plastic, carpet and furniture below the rubble is what is continuing to burn. The New York Fire Department is there constantly wetting down critical areas. And with all that has gone on, it has been an extremely safe site.”

“The unprecedented challenges and hazards at the WTC site call for unprecedented cooperation between labor, management and government,” noted BCTC President Edward J. Malloy.

“This partnership,” Malloy added, “is needed to protect the safety and health of dedicated and courageous workers who are laboring under such difficult circumstances.”

He added that shared information through the agreement “will allow us to address long-term issues.”

The signed accord calls for the following:

• Prevention of occupational related fatalities and serious injuries and illnesses for all workers involved in the WTC Emergency Project.
  
• Compliance with and implementation of the WTC Emergency Project
• Environmental, Safety and Health Plan.
  
• Immediate abatement of all serious hazards.
  
• The sharing of all exposure monitoring data to include sampling for air contaminants, noise, heat and cold, radiation and biological agents.
  
• The sharing of all safety hazards.
  

Ground Zero contractors who participated in the signing of the agreement included Bovis Lend Lease LMB, Turner Construction, Tully Construction, AMEC Construction Management Inc. and Plaza Construction.

The following parties have also agreed to continue to work in cooperation with organizations assisting in the WTC Emergency Project to achieve the goals of this partnership: the New York City Office of Emergency Management, the New York Police Department, the New York City Department of Health, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York State Department of Labor, the Port Authority of NY&NJ, Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO.