Workers Memorial Day 2008
Posted on byby NIOSH Director John Howard, M.D.
On this Workers Memorial Day, April 28, 2008, the nation mourns fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, children, grandparents, brothers, sisters, and cherished friends who have died from work-related injuries and illnesses. In their memory, we renew our national commitment to make the workplace safer and healthier.
Although much progress has been made since the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970, more remains to be accomplished. Research is a vital part of this national mission, and NIOSH is proud of its role in helping to prevent work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths.
For the general public, the magnitude and impact of the problem perhaps emerge most starkly in the news coverage of workplace calamities in which two, three, four, or more workers die at one time as we saw with the tragedy aboard the commercial fishing vessel the Alaska Ranger, which took the lives of five crewmen including the captain.
For occupational safety and health professionals, these catastrophes are compounded by the toll of deaths, disabilities, and impairments that occur with little or no media coverage, individually, every day—wrenching personal tragedies for families and communities.
As we near the end of the first decade of the 21st Century, NIOSH research is increasingly important for maintaining the progress gained so far, and for making further inroads. “Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds,” Alexander Graham Bell observed. NIOSH depends on the help of our partners and collaborators—on your help—for success in our endeavors. Please join me in honoring Workers Memorial Day 2008 and striving together to safeguard our working men and women.