“One fatality is too many:” National Day of Mourning to call for safer work conditions
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PRINCE GEORGE – The National Day of Mourning is coming up on April 28, and in Prince George it will be commemorated at the Worker’s Memorial Statue in Connaught Park. With a theme of “Safe work now!” this year’s Day of Mourning will not only remember those we’ve lost on the job, but also raise awareness and call for action to create safer work environments.
“It’s a call to action to strengthen regulations, to strengthen work safety, and to call on the leaders of this country, of this province, to do better. We want to get it down to zero fatalities a year, zero injuries a year. One injury, one fatality is one too many,” said International Union of Operating Engineers Representative Konrad Tarry.
Tarry said WorkSafe BC’s most recent data shows that 2022 saw the highest amount of work related deaths in the province in the last three decades, with 181 deaths. Across the entire country, there were 993 deaths.
“We had one that hit very close to home, to the operating engineers, and to British Columbia as a whole. We unfortunately had a crane accident down in the lower mainland where we had a fatality, a mother passed away due to insecure load handling. And it just brings it to the forefront that we have Day of Mourning, we have regulations, we have a push to bring everybody home, but it still happens even now,” Tarry said.
