Workers' Memorial Day, International Workers' Memorial Day or International Commemoration Day (ICD) for Dead and Injured or Day of Mourning takes place annually around the world on Monday, April 28, an international day of remembrance and action which honours workers killed, disabled, injured or made sick by their work.
The latest statistics for the UK from the Health and Safety Executive reveals that 13,000 people lost their lives during 2012 and 2013 through work-related illness such as mesothelioma, which is caused by exposure to asbestos and other occupational cancers.
According to statistics, between 2011 and 2012, 1.1 million working people were suffering from a work-related illness and another 78,000 people had reported being injured at work resulting in 27 million working days being lost.
Each and every workplace death has a devastating impact on the victim’s family, friends and work colleagues. Unions have won laws and protections that have made workplaces safer for all.
But we still have a long way to go. There has been a drive to cut red tape for businesses in recent years but this can’t be at the expense of putting people’s lives at risk.
Every day in America, on average, 12 people go to work and never come home. In addition, another estimated 50,000 die every year from occupational diseases — an average of 137 a day, bringing the total worker fatalities to 150 a day. Each year nearly 4 million people suffer a workplace injury from which some may never recover. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2012, 4,383 workers were killed on the job and in 2011 4,693 work-related deaths were reported.
On March 25, 1911, 146 workers burned to death behind locked doors at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City. We would like to think that something so terrible could never happen today, but over the past years, a series of major workplace tragedies proved us wrong. By now, the names are infamous: the April 2010, the BP oil spill that killed 11 oil rig workers; the October 2011 Bartlett Grain Elevator explosion in Atchison, Kansas, that killed six workers; the April 2013 ammonium nitrate explosion at the West Fertilizer Company in Texas, that killed15 and injured 160. Last week SOYMB recalled the tragic and totally preventable Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,100 garment workers.
Many immigrant workers, who often work in the most dangerous and exploitative jobs, have no union protections and are afraid to speak out. In the public sector, many workers have no OSHA protection. Hundreds of workers are fired or harassed by their employers each year simply for voicing job safety concerns. And although there are dozens of whistleblower protections and anti-retaliation laws, many are simply too weak and remain unenforced. Too often these safety problems make themselves known in the form of large-scale catastrophes.
Highway incidents continue to be the leading cause of on-the-job fatalities, and truck drivers suffer more on-the-job fatalities than any other individual occupation. Ergonomic hazards cripple hundreds of thousands of workers and musculoskeletal disorders remain America's biggest workplace safety and health problem. Mesothelioma strikes close to 3,000 Americans each year, and those who develop the disease were likely exposed to asbestos on the job. Workers most likely to develop mesothelioma are those who had direct contact with asbestos in an industrial setting or a factory, such as pipefitters, electricians, plumbers, foundry workers, machinists and mechanics. With an extended latency period before displaying mesothelioma symptoms, many workers are not diagnosed until decades after exposure. Workers continue to run the risk of being exposed to asbestos at work. Approximately 125 million workers worldwide are still regularly exposed to asbestos, according to the World Health Organization.
May the memory of fallen workers inspire us to continue and strengthen the fight for workplace safety but also for socialism. In the words of Mother Jones, “Mourn for the dead and fight like hell for the living.”
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The latest statistics for the UK from the Health and Safety Executive reveals that 13,000 people lost their lives during 2012 and 2013 through work-related illness such as mesothelioma, which is caused by exposure to asbestos and other occupational cancers.
According to statistics, between 2011 and 2012, 1.1 million working people were suffering from a work-related illness and another 78,000 people had reported being injured at work resulting in 27 million working days being lost.
Each and every workplace death has a devastating impact on the victim’s family, friends and work colleagues. Unions have won laws and protections that have made workplaces safer for all.
But we still have a long way to go. There has been a drive to cut red tape for businesses in recent years but this can’t be at the expense of putting people’s lives at risk.
Every day in America, on average, 12 people go to work and never come home. In addition, another estimated 50,000 die every year from occupational diseases — an average of 137 a day, bringing the total worker fatalities to 150 a day. Each year nearly 4 million people suffer a workplace injury from which some may never recover. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2012, 4,383 workers were killed on the job and in 2011 4,693 work-related deaths were reported.
On March 25, 1911, 146 workers burned to death behind locked doors at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City. We would like to think that something so terrible could never happen today, but over the past years, a series of major workplace tragedies proved us wrong. By now, the names are infamous: the April 2010, the BP oil spill that killed 11 oil rig workers; the October 2011 Bartlett Grain Elevator explosion in Atchison, Kansas, that killed six workers; the April 2013 ammonium nitrate explosion at the West Fertilizer Company in Texas, that killed15 and injured 160. Last week SOYMB recalled the tragic and totally preventable Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,100 garment workers.
Many immigrant workers, who often work in the most dangerous and exploitative jobs, have no union protections and are afraid to speak out. In the public sector, many workers have no OSHA protection. Hundreds of workers are fired or harassed by their employers each year simply for voicing job safety concerns. And although there are dozens of whistleblower protections and anti-retaliation laws, many are simply too weak and remain unenforced. Too often these safety problems make themselves known in the form of large-scale catastrophes.
Highway incidents continue to be the leading cause of on-the-job fatalities, and truck drivers suffer more on-the-job fatalities than any other individual occupation. Ergonomic hazards cripple hundreds of thousands of workers and musculoskeletal disorders remain America's biggest workplace safety and health problem. Mesothelioma strikes close to 3,000 Americans each year, and those who develop the disease were likely exposed to asbestos on the job. Workers most likely to develop mesothelioma are those who had direct contact with asbestos in an industrial setting or a factory, such as pipefitters, electricians, plumbers, foundry workers, machinists and mechanics. With an extended latency period before displaying mesothelioma symptoms, many workers are not diagnosed until decades after exposure. Workers continue to run the risk of being exposed to asbestos at work. Approximately 125 million workers worldwide are still regularly exposed to asbestos, according to the World Health Organization.
May the memory of fallen workers inspire us to continue and strengthen the fight for workplace safety but also for socialism. In the words of Mother Jones, “Mourn for the dead and fight like hell for the living.”
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