28 April: a day to remember

Workers Memorial Day, 28th April, is now officially recognised in the United Kingdom and will be joining countries from around the world in remembrance of all those workers killed on the job. The government will encourage commemorations to be held throughout the UK, with the ministers committed to help support and promote them. The slogan for the day is “Remember the dead and fight for the living”. It is a time also for celebrating this small win and to thank all those who were dedicated, focussed and instrumental in driving this campaign forward. It is a breakthrough for health and safety campaigners in the UK.

In London Construction Safety Campaign has met with trade unionists from UNITE, UCATT and GMB, and begun planning events in London. They will focus on the Olympic site in Stratford, following the death of Shaun Scurry a week after an incident on 9th December at Westfield’s Stratford City site. They will also support the UCATT commemorative event at the statue to the unknown building worker in Tower Hamlets.

The 2008/09 HSE statistics show 20 people were killed at work across London and 2,848 sustained major injuries and 11,708 more suffered injuries requiring more than three days absence. The figures compare with 26 fatalities, 2,948 major injuries and 12,568 cases requiring more than three days absence in 2007/08. Including other absences due to ill health caused by work activities, this equates to 1.7 million working days lost. There were 180 workplace deaths nationally in the same period.

Stephen Williams HSE’s London Regional Director, said: “Slips, trips and falls from height are consistently the chief causes of death and serious injury”

Slips, trips and falls alone cost three London lives, with HSE saying workers were killed in Bexley, Ealing and Wandsworth in 2009 in slip trip fall incidents. Overall HSE figures show that slips cost Britain an estimated £800 million each year. More workplace deaths are triggered by falls from height than any other cause.

HSE launched Shattered Lives campaign on 1st February 2010 aiming to reduce slips, trips and falls in the workplace. Visit www.hse.gov.uk/shatteredlives for practical advice and guidance.

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