Statement by the President Upon Convening the Conference on Occupational Safety.

I AM deeply concerned over the individual tragedies and the economic waste of the Nation's manpower resulting from nearly 14,000 deaths and 2 million disabling injuries in the workplaces of our country.

Strikes make the headlines. Yet in 1962 over twice as much time was lost from job accidents as from strikes.

Every family whose breadwinner is struck down by one of these accidents, despite workmen's compensation and welfare and pension plans, suffers deprivation as well as heartbreak.

The Nation which is investing millions of dollars in training and retraining manpower, in enriching our skills to meet the demands of technological .progress, cannot afford to waste that investment through preventable work injuries.

To reduce these tragedies and this national loss, I have today asked Reed O. Hunt, President of Crown Zellerbach Corporation, and Leo Teplow, assistant vice president of the American Iron and Steel Institute, to help their Government and specifically the Department of Labor to organize the President's Conference on Occupational Safety to be held in Washington June 23, 24, and 25, 1964. The Chairman of the Conference will be Secretary of Labor W. Willard Wirtz. I am confident these men whose companies and industries have done a notable job on accident prevention will bring experience and imagination to this task.