The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced an education campaign calling on employers to prevent work-related distracted driving. The special campaign focuses on prohibiting texting while driving.
"Year after year, the leading cause of worker fatalities is motor vehicle crashes," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Dr. David Michaels. "There’s no question that new communications technologies are helping businesses work smarter and faster. But getting work done faster does not justify the dramatically increased risk of injury and death that comes with texting while driving."
Part of OSHA’s education outreach is a new website aimed at those whose workplaces are the cars, vans and trucks that deliver the goods and services on which the nation’s economy depends, and their employers. This online resource informs workers of their rights and employers of their responsibility to provide safe workplaces. It offers best practices and policies on achieving safe workplaces in motor vehicles. Information and continual updates is available at
www.osha.gov/distracted-driving.
An open letter to employers, also posted online, requests that companies examine their policies and practices, informs them that they have a legal obligation to prohibit workplace hazards such as texting while driving, and asks them to immediately remove any incentives that may motivate employees to text while behind the wheel.
"OSHA’s message to all companies whose employees drive on the job is straightforward: It is your responsibility and legal obligation to have a clear, unequivocal and enforced policy against texting while driving," said Michaels. "Companies are in violation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act if, by policy or practice, they require texting while driving, or create incentives that encourage or condone it, or they structure work so that texting is a practical necessity for workers to carry out their jobs. OSHA will investigate worker complaints, and employers who violate the law will be subject to citations and penalties."