Every year more people are killed at work than in wars. Most don't die of mystery ailments, or in tragic ‘accidents’. They die because an employer decided their safety just wasn't that important a priority. Workers’ Memorial Day commemorates those workers.

Workers’ Memorial Day is held on 28 April every year. All over the world workers and their representatives conduct events, demonstrations, vigils and a whole host of other activities to mark the day.(1)

This year, in London, members of the Islington Trades Council marched with about 100 others to the Health and Safety Executive Headquarters (HSE) and then to City Hall where speakers from the trade union movement, campaigners and the families of those killed at or by work spoke to the gathered crowd.

Mike Hutin spoke about his son Andrew, who was one of three steel workers killed when a furnace exploded at the Corus plant in Port

Mike Hutin - son killed at Corus furnace explosion

Talbot, South Wales, in 2001. The explosion at the number 5 furnace also injured 12 other workers. Mike said his son was a fourth generation steel worker and some might say that, "steel is in our blood, but he would add that now, our blood is in the steel." He went on to say how no individual from Corus was ever penalized and he is still not sure if another accident like it won't happen again.

Liliana Alexa spoke about how her son Michael was killed in a crane disaster in 2006. He was one of two young men who tragically lost their lives when a crane, produced by the Falcon crane company, collapsed in Battersea. Michael was innocently taking care of his car when the crane, which was approximately 34 years old, crashed down on top of him. The other young man who died was the crane driver. A nearby low-rise block of flats was also badly damaged, resulting in the whole block being evacuated for a week. Speaking about her uphill battle for justice, Liliana said "The whole system is designed to make individuals feel powerless against these powerful, impenetrable companies."

The mother of 24 year old Simon Jones told us how her son was killed on his first day as a casual worker at Euromin's Shoreham dock - his head crushed by the grab of a crane. To save time, the company failed to use the appropriate attachment for the job. Simon got the job unloading ships at Euromin's dock through an employment agency, despite having no training or experience in this dangerous and skilled work. Despite the fight by the family, the company was cleared of corporate manslaughter charges in 2001. The bereaved mother also talked about how the police are totally untrained about how to properly investigate corporate crime.

Other speakers included Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, Mick Holden from the Hazards Campaign, Tony O'Brian from the Construction Safety Campaign and Pat Sikorsky from the RMT. Pat cited other avoidable work disasters like the Clapham rail crash, the Hatfield crash that killed 4, the fire at Kings Cross, and the Ladbroke Grove rail crash that killed 31- to name a few.

Matt Wrack, FBU Gen Sec, speaks to crowd

Matt Wrack, the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union said how firefighters have had to attend far too many funerals for their colleagues and that only by organising together, can we enforce safety standards and accountability.

Recent statistics provided by The Hazards Campaign state that 220 workers and 361 members of the public were killed last year according to HSE work-related fatality figures. In addition about 1,000 people are killed on the roads each year on work-related road traffic accidents. The HSE says 70% of these deaths are due to management failure. Breaking Health and Safety Law is a criminal act, but only about 11 employers have ever been jailed for killing people at work.

Footnotes:

(1). http://www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/index.cfm?mins=293