TRENTON, N.J. — The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development is honoring staff members who responded to Ground Zero following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, providing personal protective equipment and monitoring air quality for responders and recovery workers.
In the days and weeks after the attacks, NJDOL personnel traveled to the World Trade Center site, where they fitted workers with protective equipment and monitored air quality as fires continued to burn and crews searched the debris.
“Twenty-five years later, our department still carries the memory of that day and the responsibility that came with it,” Acting Commissioner Kevin Jarvis said. “Our employees went to Ground Zero to protect the protectors, to make sure that the men and women searching for survivors and clearing the wreckage had the equipment and the air-quality information they needed to come home safe. That instinct, to look out for workers no matter the conditions, is still at the heart of everything this department does.”
On Thursday, Sept. 10, Jarvis will join the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, New Jersey State Police, Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness and members of NJDOL’s Public Employees Occupational Safety and Health team for a wreath-laying ceremony at the Empty Sky 9/11 Memorial at Liberty State Park in Jersey City.
The ceremony will recognize those who assisted in the recovery and cleanup efforts following the attacks.
The NJDOL employees who worked on behalf of first responders following the attacks are memorialized on a plaque at the department’s headquarters in Trenton. They are Jeanette Adeshote, Raymond Bellarosa, Howard Black, Edward Burdzy, Michael Corbett, Richard Craig, John Dennis, Louis Farrell, Daniel Foerst, Joanne Haas, Leon Ireland, Leonard Katz, Joseph Kitchell, Irwin Kreisberg, Luis Lento, Al Lungren, John Mays, Dennis McCarthy, William Meyers, William Nolen, Richard Panczyszyn, John Patterson, Patrick Picerno, Carlos Pinto, Pasquale Pittore, John Powers, James Revak, Susette Sabio Jones, Richard Schwartz, Peter Slaton, William Slaton, William Smayda, Anthony Valente, Mark Wadiak and Jerry Zubenko.
NJDOL said the work continues today through PEOSH, which works to protect the health and safety of New Jersey’s public-sector workers, including police officers, firefighters, emergency medical personnel and other public employees.
PEOSH conducts workplace inspections and investigations, issues safety alerts on emerging hazards, provides on-site consultation and training and offers guidance for emergency and disaster response.
“Every inspection we conduct, every alert we issue, every training we deliver traces back to a simple idea,” Jarvis added. “No one should have to choose between doing their job and staying safe. That was true for the responders at Ground Zero, and it’s true for New Jersey’s public workers today.”
