The non-profit safety advocacy group Worksafe! collaborated closely with the ILWU to promote indoor heat regulations through CAL/OSHA, California’s workplace safety agency. The plight of Rite Aid workers in the sweltering high desert in Lancaster, Calif. spurred these efforts.

Worksafe! will hold a two-day occupational health and safety (OHS) conference entitled “Learning from the Past, Building for the Future: Worker Health and Safety Policy, Research, Advocacy and Organizing.”

The Worksafe! OSH Policy Conference will be held Sunday, December 2, 12:30 pm - 9 pm and Monday December 3, 2007, 9:00 am–6 pm at the Hilton Garden Inn, 1800 Powell Street, Emeryville, CA 94608. 

Worker safety advocates are invited to contact (510) 302-1071 or e-mail fsc@worksafe.org if they want to attend. The web site is www.worksafe.org.

Conference organizers say the statewide gathering will identify priorities for future legislation, promote new OSHA regulations, and take other actions. The group will release a major policy paper on occupational safety and health problems and solutions, and will bring together worker safety advocates from all over the country. Representatives from unions, labor councils and worker centers will work with safety and health specialists and attorneys.

Worksafe!’s goal is to build a network of concerned groups and individuals to promote and monitor California’s occupational safety and health. It promotes education on the need for worker protection, the control of workplace hazards, and the protection of community health and the environment. It also advocates for effective worker injury and illness prevention programs and a comprehensive government program to protect all workers.

With no paid staff, Worksafe! volunteers provide technical assistance to unions and other worker organizations, to community groups, responsible employers, and government.