In keeping with Work Zone Safety Awareness Week, the New Jersey State Assembly recognized OSHA for its pioneering efforts to reduce the number of work zone injuries and deaths among crews on New Jersey's roadways.
New Jersey State Assemblyman Alex DeCorce, chair of New Jersey's Transportation Committee, presented OSHA and five other professional organizations in New Jersey with Work Zone Safety Awareness Week Resolutions at a ceremony yesterday.
The event was in conjunction with Rutgers University's Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation, which hosted the first Work Zone Safety Conference designed to find ways to reduce the number of work zone fatalities on New Jersey's roadways.
OSHA's Parsipanny area office formed a partnership in 1995 with the New Jersey Department of Transportation, the Laborers' International Union, Laborers' Locals 172 and 472, the Federal Highway Administration, Rutgers University, and the New Jersey State Police, to provide training for New Jersey State troopers on OSHA standards and the unique hazards associated with highway construction.
To date, 6,000 hazards have been identified and corrected on highway construction work zones throughout the state by state police who have received OSHA training.
"We in OSHA are honored to be a part of this vital safety effort and gratified that the message of work zone safety has become such a key issue throughout the state," said Daivd Ippolito, area director of OSHA's Parsippany area office. "Fatalities on New Jersey highway construction sites are on the decline, but every motorist needs to be made aware that workers on roadways can be injured or killed when drivers fail to observe notices to reduce the speed of their vehicles when they enter a work zone."
As part of its special emphasis program on highway construction safety, OSHA's four New Jersey area offices conduct inspections of New Jersey's roadway construction sites from lists supplied by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.