[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 85 (Tuesday, May 4, 2010)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 23561-23562]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-10574]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 85 / Tuesday, May 4, 2010 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 23561]]


                Proclamation 8507 of April 28, 2010

                
Workers Memorial Day, 2010

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                This year marks the 40th anniversary of both the 
                Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Federal Coal 
                Mine Health and Safety Act, which promise American 
                workers the right to a safe workplace and require 
                employers to provide safe conditions. Yet, today, we 
                remain too far from fulfilling that promise. On Workers 
                Memorial Day, we remember all those who have died, been 
                injured, or become sick on the job, and we renew our 
                commitment to ensure the safety of American workers.

                The families of the 29 coal miners who lost their lives 
                on April 5 in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine 
                in West Virginia are in our thoughts and prayers. We 
                also mourn the loss of 7 workers who died in a refinery 
                explosion in Washington State just days earlier, the 4 
                workers who died at a power plant in Connecticut 
                earlier this year, and the 11 workers lost in the oil 
                platform explosion off the coast of Louisiana just last 
                week.

                Although these large-scale tragedies are appalling, 
                most workplace deaths result from tragedies that claim 
                one life at a time through preventable incidents or 
                disabling disease. Every day, 14 workers are killed in 
                on-the-job incidents, while thousands die each year of 
                work-related disease, and millions are injured or 
                contract an illness. Most die far from the spotlight, 
                unrecognized and unnoticed by all but their families, 
                friends, and co-workers--but they are not forgotten.

                The legal right to a safe workplace was won only after 
                countless lives had been lost over decades in 
                workplaces across America, and after a long and bitter 
                fight waged by workers, unions, and public health 
                advocates. Much remains to be done, and my 
                Administration is dedicated to renewing our Nation's 
                commitment to achieve safe working conditions for all 
                American workers.

                Providing safer work environments will take the 
                concerted action of government, businesses, employer 
                associations, unions, community organizations, the 
                scientific and public health communities, and 
                individuals. Today, as we mourn those lost mere weeks 
                ago in the Upper Big Branch Mine and other recent 
                disasters, so do we honor all the men and women who 
                have died on the job. In their memory, we rededicate 
                ourselves to preventing such tragedies, and to securing 
                a safer workplace for every American.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the 
                United States, do hereby proclaim April 28, 2010, as 
                Workers Memorial Day. I call upon all Americans to 
                participate in ceremonies and activities in memory of 
                those who have been killed due to unsafe working 
                conditions.

[[Page 23562]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United 
                States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2010-10574
Filed 5-3-10; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-W0-P