PASCAGOULA, Miss., July 16, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) Ship Systems sector hosted the signing of an alliance agreement between the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the American Shipbuilding Association (ASA), and the National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP) at its headquarters here yesterday.
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The agreement pledges that the signing parties will work together to proceed in a culture of injury and illness prevention in the shipbuilding and repair industry for the advancement of safety and health for employees of those industries.
Assistant Secretary of Labor John L. Henshaw represented OSHA as signatory for the organization that serves the interests of more than 100 million American workers. "Putting our minds, signatures and hearts together to say we are going to focus on the safety and health of workers is the right thing to do," said Henshaw. "Who can argue that safety and health is not the most important thing for our workers?"
The ASA represents the six major shipbuilders in the United States, including Northrop Grumman Ship Systems and Northrop Grumman Newport News, and 28 companies engaged in the design and manufacture of ship systems.
"This agreement reflects the steadfast commitment of the shipbuilding industry to continue working with OSHA to reduce injuries and illness associated with the unique workplace environment of a shipyard," said ASA President Cynthia L. Brown. "The agreement also symbolizes the desire of ASA and its member shipyards to build upon the accomplishments that have been achieved through the proactive and far-sighted activities of the Maritime Advisory Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, and to perpetuate the philosophy that the interests of the shipbuilding industry and its employees are best served by constructive dialogue and action."
Paul Robinson, vice president of Northrop Grumman Ship Systems' Ingalls Operations in Pascagoula, represented the ASA in signing the alliance agreement. "We have the benefit of being able to talk to one another and work together - the regulatory agency, labor and management," he said. "Any successful program has to have this kind of open dialogue."
The NSRP is led by a collaboration of 11 shipyards in the United States, working as a team with government, industry and academia. Its stated mission is to manage and focus national shipbuilding research and development funding on technologies that will reduce the cost of warships to the U.S. Navy and will establish U.S. international competitiveness.
Northrop Grumman's Ship Systems sector includes primary operations in Pascagoula and Gulfport, Miss.; and in New Orleans and Tallulah, La., as well as in a network of fleet support offices in the U.S. and Japan. Ship Systems, which currently employs more than 17,000 shipbuilding professionals, primarily in Mississippi and Louisiana, is one of the nation's leading full service systems companies for the design, engineering, construction, and life cycle support of major surface ships for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and international navies, and for commercial vessels of all types.
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