
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 2, 1990                   TAG: 9006020371
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DOUGLAS PARDUE and MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WORKER DEATHS INCREASE

Virginia's commissioner of labor and industry says she's worried that the state is losing ground in its fight to prevent deaths in the work place.

During the first five months of this year, 21 workers have died unnecessarily in the state's construction and manufacturing industries, Carol Amato said. That's up from 17 during the same five months of last year.

Amato said she's worried about the higher rate because the most dangerous time of the year for workers is summer, when the state's construction industry gets into full operation.

The 21 deaths so far this year include four from crane accidents, five from electrocutions and five from falls.

"What does it take for workers to know you can't take safety for granted?" Amato said. "It isn't play time."

The Department of Labor and Industry began increasing its job safety enforcement two years ago after a Roanoke Times & World-News series revealed that Virginia's workers were dying in increasing numbers because the agency's inspectors were overworked, undertrained and overwhelmed by the state's economic growth.

Sixty-eight workers died on the job in the state in 1988, the deadliest year of the decade.

As a result of the newspaper's series, the 1989 General Assembly added more than $450,000 to the agency's budget to allow it to hire more inspectors, improve training and launch a public-awareness campaign.

Curry A. Roberts, then the state's secretary of economic development, said state officials would push for an additional half-million dollars for the agency's budget in 1990. But that money never materialized because of a budget crunch that forced cuts in many agencies' budgets.

Last year, deaths on the job dropped to 45 - the lowest total since 1983.

Amato said she doesn't know if stepped-up efforts by the agency contributed to the drop. But she does believe increased safety inspections and better awareness among workers and employers can help reduce the number of deaths.

by CNB