Ground zero workers reach safety agreement.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao joined with the Construction Industry Partnership (CIP), and representatives from the City of New York, OSHA, the FDNY and the contractors working at "Ground Zero," in signing a worker safety agreement for the World Trade Center Emergency Project.

The "WTC Emergency Project Partnership Agreement" was formalized at the CIP's annual Safety Conference held at the Sheraton New York Hotel.

"The unprecedented challenges and hazards at the World Trade Center site call for unprecedented cooperation between labor, management and government," said Edward J. Malloy, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council (BCTC)."We are pleased to join Secretary Chao and others at the Department of Labor to forge the kind of partnership that is needed to protect the safety and health of dedicated and courageous workers who are laboring under such difficult circumstance."

The safety 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.

"This unprecedented partnership between government, labor and management is helping to make the most dangerous construction site in America into the safest one," said Louis J. Coletti, chairman and CEO of the Building Trades Employers' Association (BTEA). "In the end, that must be our responsibility and our mission," he added.

"Ground Zero" contractors participating in today's ceremony include Bovis Lend-Lease, Turner Construction, Tully Construction, AMEC and Plaza Construction.

The following parties also have agreed to continue to work in cooperation with organizations assisting in the WTC Emergency Project to achieve the goals of this partnership; NYC Office of Emergency Management, NYPD, NYC Department of Health, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, NYS Department of Labor, the Port Authority of NY/NJ, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Building and Construction Trades Department of AFLCIO.