A New Era for Workplace Safety and Health

For the first time in more than eight years, CWA health and safety activists have a real reason to celebrate: the Obama administration's strong commitment to working families has meant a return to real enforcement and other tools to make workplaces safer and healthier.

Some 165 CWA safety and health activists at the Oct 3-5 conference heard from Jordan Barab, acting assistant secretary of OSHA, CWA President Larry Cohen and IUE-CWA President Jim Clark.

"Secretary of Labor Solis asked me to start moving forward right away to refocus the agency on its original mission, to assure safe and healthful conditions for American workers," Barab said. That means "OSHA is heading back to the original intent of the OSH Act. We're back in the enforcement business and we're back in the standards-writing business."

General sessions and workshops covered ergonomics, occupational stress, the H1N1 flu virus, workplace violence and the connection between safety and health and the economy. Participants also discussed strategy and what can be accomplished under the Obama administration.