Official Site of The State of New Jersey

September 9, 2026

TRENTON – Twenty-five years after the September 11th terrorist attacks, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) is honoring the courage of its own staff who responded in the immediate aftermath by traveling to the World Trade Center site to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) and monitor air quality for the thousands of responders and recovery workers on the ground.
 
In the days and weeks following the attacks, NJDOL personnel worked at Ground Zero to help keep first responders safe — fitting workers with protective equipment and tracking air quality data as fires burned and the pile was searched — work that placed their own health and safety squarely at risk.
 
"Twenty-five years later, our department still carries the memory of that day and the responsibility that came with it," said Acting Commissioner Kevin Jarvis. "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 September 10, 2026, Acting Commissioner Jarvis will join the Office of the Attorney General, New Jersey State Police, and the Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, as well several brave members of NJDOL's Public Employees Occupational Safety and Health (PEOSH) team for a wreath-laying ceremony at Liberty State Park 9/11 Empty Sky Memorial in Jersey City to acknowledge those who helped in the recovery and clean-up efforts.
 
The names of NJDOL’s dedicated employees who worked on behalf of first responders in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks are immortalized on a plaque at NJDOL 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.
 
A Mission That Continues Today
The commitment that sent NJDOL staff to Ground Zero in 2001 lives on in the Department's ongoing work through PEOSH's work, which protects the health and safety of New Jersey's public-sector workers including the police officers, firefighters, EMS personnel, and other public employees who are often the first to respond when disaster strikes.
 
PEOSH carries that legacy forward by:

• Conducting inspections and investigations to identify and correct workplace safety and health hazards for public employees statewide
• Issuing safety alerts on emerging hazards, from extreme heat to workplace violence to emergency response conditions
• Providing on-site consultation and training to help public employers build safer workplaces before an incident occurs
• Offering 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.”
 
Learn more at https://www.nj.gov/labor/safetyandhealth/.

Go back to all press releases