For immediate release: Sunday, May 4, 2003

EDMONTON – The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees is asking members to participate in North American Occupational Safety and Health (NAOSH) Week activities starting today in an effort to promote worksite health and safety.

The goal of NAOSH Week, May 4 - 10, is to focus the attention of employers, employees and the general public on the importance of preventing injury and illness in the workplace.

"AUPE is very concerned with ensuring that our members, and all working people, enjoy safe, healthy conditions in their workplaces," said AUPE President Dan MacLennan. "NAOSH Week provides an opportunity to promote that goal."

AUPE Vice-President Earl Thompson, who is chair of the union’s Occupational Health and Safety Committee, said the committee’s members believe NAOSH Week " is an effective way to achieve our goal of making health and safety visible, viable and vital at all our members’ work sites."

The committee encourages all members to organize NAOSH Week activities, Thompson said, noting that the committee provided posters and reference materials to support a series of brown-bag lunches at worksites throughout the province.

"The best way to promote health and safety is through worksite activism," he said.
This year’s NAOSH Week theme, he noted, is "Prepare young workers for the future." The aim is to reduce the number of injuries to young, inexperienced workers.

"Statistics prove that young workers are injured at a higher rate due to their lack of education," Thompson noted. In Alberta in 2002, he said, nearly 60 per cent of the more than 38,500 injuries reported were suffered within six months of starting a job by workers under the age of 25.

NAOSH week was first celebrated in 1997, after an agreement by Canada, Mexico and the United States to expand on Canada’s Canadian Occupational Health and Safety Week, which had been celebrated since 1986. It continues to be marked in all three countries.

The official launch of NAOSH Week 2003 will take place May 6 at Edmonton City Hall.

For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-910-8392 (cellular phone)
Earl Thompson, Vice-President, AUPE, Occupational Health and Safety Committee Chair, 780-930-3382 or 780405-4399 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)