ISRI sends out safety pledge.

The chair and the president of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI), Washington, have distributed a safety pledge to the group's membership, asking members to send a "single, unified message" committing to safety.

An e-mail that went out to ISRI members in early February asks recipients to sign and send to the ISRI office a pledge to commit to "providing a safe and healthful workplace" to employees and to "consider worker and customer safety" in every decision made.

In a letter accompanying the pledge, ISRI Chair Joel Denbo and ISRI President Robin Wiener state, "Signing the pledge is not mandatory as a condition of membership, but it is a prerequisite to qualify for many (though not all) ISRI Safety programs and services."

Among the services that will remain available at no charge only te those that sign the pledge are OSHA 10-hour training, monthly safety meeting training guides, the ISRI Safety Manual and ISRI's safety posters.

The duo also write that, "ISRI's Safety Program is built on a simple safety truth: Safety is just as manageable as every other element of our business." The letter also notes that to be so managed, safety must be a top priority. "Accomplishing this change of priorities requires a wholesale commitment to put safety at the top of the management chart in all our activities--even above profit," the letter states.

Denbo and Wiener close the letter by saying that the pledge is a first step in what will be a plan to allocate "additional resources" to ISRI's safety program.