Whether you call it “Workers’ Memorial Day” or “World Day for Safety and Health at Work,” today’s focus is the same: improving conditions for workers so that injuries and illnesses are prevented and lives are saved.
International Labour Organization (ILO) Director-General Guy Ryder: The news is punctuated periodically by intense coverage of dramatic, heartbreaking stories that capture global attention: health workers infected while caring for patients with deadly diseases, trapped miners who may or may not resurface, factory building collapses, plane crashes, explosions of oil rigs and nuclear accidents.
Today is International Workers’ Memorial Day, established to recognize workers who died or suffered from exposures to hazards at work. But it’s not only an occasion to look back at what’s already happened.
National COSH annual report covers 1,500 fatalities
April 27, 2015
In observance of Worker’s Memorial Day tomorrow, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) has released its annual report on U.S. worker fatalities. The database, a comprehensive effort to gather specific information about workplace deaths, covers some 1,500 fatalities – about one-third of all workers who died on the job in 2014.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has recognized several NIOSH researchers and partners for their significant contributions to the field of occupational safety and health over the past year.
A manufacturer of custom-sized resin balls used in the petroleum industry exposed its employees to a breathtaking array of hazards, according to OSHA, which has leveled 48 violations and $105,200 in fines against A. Hyatt Ball Co., Inc. in Fort Edward, New York.
A welder died because Metal Shredders of Miamisburg, Ohio failed to protect him from an energized electrical line while he was cutting a metal roof off an industrial transformer substation, according to OSHA, which initiated an investigation at the company’s facility after the worker’s death.
OSHA’s national Workers’ Memorial Day commemoration this year has a specific theme: toxic chemical exposure. The ceremony, which will take place April 28 from 2-3 p.m. at the Frances Perkins Building Auditorium in Washington, D.C., will include:
The AFL-CIO will be among those organizations commemorating Workers’ Memorial Day on April 28th. The event, which honors those who have been killed or injured on the job, has given rise to a host of activities and observances across the U.S. and around the world.
An investigation by OSHA has determined that management of the Union Pacific Railroad added insult to injury when it blamed a worker in Roseville who was hurt on the job for his injury and then retaliated against him for reporting the injury in February 2011.