Labor Secretary Chao Keynotes Seminar on Emergency
Preparedness for People with Disabilities in the Federal Government

WASHINGTON—Today U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao delivered the keynote address at the two-day Labor Department event entitled “Emergency Preparedness For People With Disabilities: An Interagency Seminar Of Exchange For Federal Managers.”

“Every single day, more than 120,000 employees with disabilities go to work in the national headquarters buildings, regional offices or field locations that are owned by or leased by the federal government. Their safety, and the safety of all federal workers, is a top priority,” said Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao in the keynote address.

“At the Department, we have always taken the safety requirements of our over 1,000 employees with disabilities very seriously. We are constantly revising and fine tuning our emergency preparedness plans,” said Secretary Chao.

The Secretary also noted that the seminar would help to advance President Bush’s New Freedom Initiative, which has the goal of fully integrating people with disabilities into the workforce.

“There is no one size fits all when it comes to emergency preparedness,” said Roy Grizzard, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Disability Employment Policy, the host agency for the Seminar. “By sharing what we know with each other and asking the critical questions, we will be able to create thorough and comprehensive emergency preparedness plans for all federal employees in an emergency situation.”

Over 200 people from 90 different federal, state and local agencies and outside organizations will discuss effective strategies for building, implementing and maintaining an emergency preparedness plan that involves people with disabilities in the workforce. In addition to Secretary Chao and Assistant Secretary Grizzard, other speakers at the December 2-3 event will include Daniel Sutherland, Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, US Department of Homeland Security, and Pamela Butler, Defense Intelligence Agency, U.S. Department of Defense.

All aspects of the two-day Seminar are open to accredited media except for breakout sessions. Copies of the agenda and additional information for the media are available from Michael Volpe of the Department’s Public Affairs Office at (202) 693-7909.

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Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.