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28 avril 2015

Why we need to remember April 28 all year

The following article was published in The Province (Vancouver) on April 28 to mark the National Day of Mourning for workers killed or injured on the job.

By Joseph Maloney, International Vice-President for Canada of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers

April 28 is Canada's National Day of Mourning for persons killed, injured or made ill in the workplace. On this day, workers across Canada will commemorate those who have lost their lives or undergone a life-changing health event just because they went to work.

Why do we need a National Day of Mourning? It's important because we need to remember that every working day, on average, nearly four Canadians lose their lives at work. Almost 1,000 Canadians lose their lives to workplace accidents every year.

Those statistics don't tell the whole story though. They don't include people like agricultural workers who are not covered by workers' compensation. In 2010, 22 farm workers died from workplace accidents in Alberta alone. From 1993-2009, many deaths from occupational diseases like asbestosis were not declared at all. To say that workplace-related deaths in Canada are understated is itself an understatement.

In 2003, a study from the International Labour Organization showed Canada had the fifth highest incidence of occupational deaths per 100,000 workers in the 29-member Organization of Economic and Co-operative and Development (OECD). Only Korea, Mexico, Portugal and Turkey had more.

Fatalities represent only part of the human toll of occupational deaths, injuries and illness. Almost a million Canadians are injured on the job severely enough to miss at least a day of work per year.

Thousands more are affected by workplace-related illnesses such as asbestosis and sickness related to chemical exposure, dust and other byproducts of our industrial society.

The statistics are horrible; even more so when we look at the individuals behind the numbers. Every one of those deaths means a home shattered, a family bereft and a loss to our communities.

Workplace-related deaths, injuries and illness also represent an economic loss to our country. In 2008, for example, more than $7.6 billion was paid in workers' compensation claims across Canada. In total, it is estimated that the overall cost is more than $19 billion a year.

That money could make a huge dent in government deficits, improve healthcare and education, or alleviate poverty and homelessness.

After the 1992 explosion at the Westray mine in Nova Scotia that killed 26, Parliament finally passed an amendment to the Criminal Code in 2004. This amendment made corporations and their directors responsible for health and safety violations that lead to injuries and death. But the number of workplace deaths and injuries continues to be unacceptably high.

Legislation and stiffer penalties for violators are part of the solution. So is hiring more health and safety inspectors to help enforce the law.

Union members often have health and safety representatives in their workplace who are trained to advance member concerns. Increasingly, workplace health and safety has become a priority in negotiations. Our own union has a full-time health and safety director and funds a major initiative to make sure our members work safely.

Workers without unions have the same legal rights to safe conditions as do union members. And joint management-worker health and safety committees are legally required in many workplaces, union or not.

Enlightened management and owners know that a healthy and safe workplace pays for itself many times over. Increasingly, in our own union, we find ourselves working together with corporate leadership to make safety priority number one.

And every worker has the responsibility to do his or her job as safely as possible, not only for their own safety but also for that of their co-workers.

Parliament endorsed the National Day of Mourning in 1990. April 28 is an important date in the calendar of any working person. But we should keep in mind those who suffered workplace injuries or illness, or lost their lives on the job, every day of the year.