Washington, D.C. --Information on the relationship between drugs and alcohol and workplace fatalities will once again be available to lawmakers seeking to improve on the job safety, according to U.S. Senator Mike Enzi.

Enzi was preparing to offer an amendment to the Department of Labor and related agencies appropriations bill which would have required the Bureau of Labor Statistics to again include in its annual report information concerning how alcohol and drugs contribute to fatal work injuries. The department began the practice in 1992, but dropped the program in 1995. After working directly with Labor Department administrators, Enzi secured an agreement that the program would begin again without the necessity of an amendment to the appropriations bill.

"The lack of information pertaining to alcohol and substance abuse fatalities in the workplace is alarming," Enzi said. "If we are serious about the safety of American workers, we must carefully examine all contributing factors that pose a potential threat while on the job."

He said the department's earlier data showed that nearly 17 percent of workers who were injured fatally on the job tested positive for alcohol, marijuana, cocaine or other drugs.

"This percentage may have gone down, remained the same or it may have shot through the roof the last couple of years. This illustrates the further urgent need to learn more about drug and alcohol use on the job, but because the data is no longer being collected it's hard to tell what the situation is and what needs to be done to make the workplace safer," said Enzi.

Bureau of Labor Statistics officials cut the program, citing lack of funds. The Senate Appropriations Committee recommendations for next year increase the bureau's budget by nearly $12 million from last year's figure. The department has not given specific figures on the cost of documenting drug and alcohol contribution to workplace deaths across the nation.

Enzi said better information on workplace fatalities will enable him and other legislators to craft and pass legislation that will protect people at work.

"Safety in the workplace should concern everyone. However, if we don't understand how our workers are killed on the job, then we deceive ourselves. The department's program provides a better understanding of what role alcohol and drugs play in contributing to workplace deaths. The better we understand the problem, the better our solutions will be to protect people on the job," he said. "The need for this analysis is logical."