Washington – On April 28, 1970, the nation took notice for the first time Labor Memorial Day At a time when an estimated 38 people died on the job in the United States each day. More than a half century later, this annual honor lives on as does the relentless efforts of the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Mine Safety and Health Administration to help protect the lives of our nation’s workers.
Today, work-related injuries claim approximately 14 lives each day in the United States, which is one loss every 101 minutes. There have been 5,190 such deaths in 2024. Worker Remembrance Day honors these people, all the fallen workers before them, and the survivors who are left to grieve and carry on.
In 2023, families, friends, co-workers, and others will gather on Friday, April 28 at events across the country to honor people who have died at work.
“On Workers Remembrance Day, as we remember the people whose jobs took their lives, we must recognize that behind these numbers, there are people who grieve every loss. For them, these stats are loved ones: they are parents, children, siblings, relatives, friends or colleagues at work. work,” said Assistant Secretary of Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker. “On this Remembrance Day, we must reflect on what might have prevented their loss and commit ourselves to doing everything we can – and everything that can be done – to protect workers and to fulfill our moral obligation and duty as a nation to protect workers.”
Assistant Secretary of Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker and Assistant Secretary of Mine Safety and Health Christopher Williamson will host the National Workers Remembrance Day celebration. Broadcasting via the Internet from the Ministry’s headquarters in Washington on April 27 at 1 p.m. EST. They will be joined by AFL-CIO President Liz Schuller and Vice President of Workplace Support and Memorial Wanda Ingracia, whose husband Pablo Murillo was one of three workers killed in a 2005 industrial explosion in New Jersey.
“On Worker Remembrance Day, we come together to remember those workers we lost, including those who suffered toxic exposures on the job that led to fatal illnesses that were entirely preventable,” said Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health Chris Williamson. “Repeated and prolonged exposure to unsafe levels of coal dust, silica, and diesel exhaust can slowly strip miners of their livelihood, dignity, and ultimately their lives. We must honor their loss by doing everything we can to protect the health and safety of our country’s miners.”
Across the United States, OSHA and MSHA representatives will participate in Memorial Day events for local workers. They will join families, workers, labor unions, advocates and others to remember the lives lost and to raise awareness of workplace safety to help prevent future tragedies. Find a local Labor Memorial Day event.
Watch the Workers’ Memorial Day event online from Washington, D.C. on April 27.