Statement by the President: Job Safety Week.

AN OCCUPATIONAL ACCIDENT, in the factory, on the farm, or on the construction site, has three certain results--human suffering to the victim and-his family, economic loss to his employer, and waste of precious skills to his country. There is another certainty about such accidents--they are preventable.

The typically American approach to the problems of job safety--the joining together of all interested parties on a voluntary basis--has saved untold millions of workers from disability and the agonies of injury. We must all make it a business of primary importance to devise methods for preventing the needless accidents that still happen.

In order to direct the attention of all our citizens to this vital work, I have designated May 13-19 as Job Safety Week. Outstanding businessmen, farm and labor leaders, State and Federal officials, and representatives from insurance, education and safety organizations will convene in Washington for the President's Conference on Occupational Safety. Their purpose will be to design voluntary programs to reduce preventable work injuries.

This is a work in which all of us must share. An injury anywhere is a loss to the Nation as a whole. Safety must become a daily habit in all our workplaces if we are to reach our full potential of strength.

I urge Governors and Mayors to use their good offices in their own States and communities so that every employer and worker is aware of the need for safety.

I call upon all my fellow citizens to join with me in making Job Safety Week a success.