Over the past year the Saskatchewan Workers Compensation Board said 39 people in Saskatchewan lost their lives due to workplace injuries.
That is 39 people too many a memorial service was told on Friday, April 28.
“Every worker deserves to come home safe at the end of the work day,” Stacey Landin president of the Moose Jaw and District Labour Council (MJDLC) said at the memorial service where all of the 39 workers names were publicly remembered.
The list sadly included the names of two workers from Moose Jaw whose lives were cut short due injuries suffered at the workplace.
Held in front of the permanent memorial marker at the MJDLC’s Caribou Street West headquarters the memorial was part of the National Day Of Mourning an annual event, to remember those who lost their lives due to workplace injury.
Landin gave a speech to those gathered about the importance of the right to refuse dangerous work as well as the need for safe working conditions.
She spoke about how organized labour fought for the rights for safe workplaces to help keep workers safe.
“Workers have the right to know about hazards at their work,” Landin said emphasizing the role organized labour has had in ensuring workers have the right to work safely.
“We have won rights that can make us safer but we need to know those rights (while on the job),” she said.
Landin spoke about the 39 people who are recognized as dying from workplace injuries and workplace environmental exposure in 2022 in Saskatchewan.
Figures which are more starker for 2021 when Canada-wide 1,081 people are listed as dying from workplace related injuries - the 2022 figures are yet to be listed.
For Saskatchewan the figures show 21 people needlessly lost their lives due to workplace exposures - mostly exposure to asbestos - and six died as a result of motor vehicle accidents.
Those gathered were told about the employers’ responsibility to ensure workplaces are hazard free.
“In Canada employers are responsible for a safe work place,” Landin said it was important to “ hold employers accountable when not following the rules” in order to prevent tragedy and save lives.
She spoke about how organized labour has been instrumental in the creation of workplace safety rules which if followed properly could help prevent injuries and save lives.
“Canadas unions are empowering workers.”
The ceremony then included, reading the names of all of the 39 workers who recognized by Saskatchewan Workers Compensation Board as passing away in 2022 due to workplace injury.
She cautioned the list may include others, but the names being read are the ones that are recognized.
