NASA
Administrator
Daniel A. Goldin,
intensely committed
to safety and
health at NASA,
made opening
remarks at the
day’s events.

Making safety a top priority, NASA sponsored Safety and Health Day for employees in Washington, DC on May 13, 1999, with the theme, "Mission Success Starts with Safety." Clever activities highlighting safety and health were featured throughout the day. Most  passionate about safety was Daniel A Goldin, NASA Administrator. In the opening session, he lauded the "incredible" achievements made by NASA in maintaining a good safety record despite using some older equipment and practicing very complicated operations.

"Safety is unspeakably important," he stressed, "more important than anything you do at work — this is the essence. If you live this both at work and at home, think about how meaningful that is. We must dedicate our total being to creating safety on our jobs. As good as we have been, we need to do better. We’ll set up an infra-structure where safety is integrated at every level."

Mr. Goldin shared statistics on accidents and stated "within six years, I want us at zero in terms of injuries, accidents, and deaths." In closing, Mr. Goldin said, "I come on very hard, very strong, because I deeply care. And NASA employees care. Every life is precious and I don’t want to risk a single life. Everything and everyone at NASA must be committed to safety."

Mr. John Plummer, Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Director of Federal agency programs, followed, stating that