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Hazards magazine's Country by country listing
Regularly updated country by country details of national Workers' Memorial Day activities. more

Britain: Unions make work safer every day
The worldwide theme for Workers’ Memorial Day on 28 April this year is to be ‘Unions make work safer.” The general theme – unions at national level can adapt it to fit local campaigns and priorities – was announced in a circular this week from the International Trade Union Confederation. It followed a consultation with national union centres and international union organisations. The circular notes: “The ITUC, in cooperation with Hazards and Global Unions, will produce background material for 28 April. It is for this purpose that we would like trade unions to send us information, success stories and resources on the effect trade unions have on improving occupational health and safety and ultimately saving lives, in order to incorporate them in the background materials.” So, tell TUC what union safety organisation in your workplace has done – through active safety reps, effective safety committees, mapping exercises and union insistence that health and safety is a priority - to make work healthier and safer all round.
Send examples to TUC • TUC Workers’ Memorial Day webpages and union effect briefing • Global 28 April webpage and facebook page • Risks 442
Hazards news, 6 February 2010

Britain: Union welcome for 28 April recognition
The UK government’s official recognition of Workers’ Memorial Day has been met with a lot of praise from unions and a bit of now-we’ll-have-some-more-thank-you.  Ronnie Draper, president of the bakers’ union BFAWU said the “fantastic” news was “testament to the campaigning strength of trade unions and other pressure groups.” He added: “The slogan ‘Remember The Dead, Fight for the Living’ must never be forgotten, it should be used as a constant reminder that lives lost at work should not be in vain, and the protection of workers must be our ultimate goal.” Bob Monks, general secretary of the road transport union URTU, said: “The official day will help promote our campaigns to highlight and prevent workplace accidents in the road haulage, distribution and logistics industry.” Dave Prentis, UNISON general secretary, said it was good news that had “been a long time coming”. He added: “Too many workers are still suffering because of workplace injuries. By marking Workers’ Memorial Day nationally, it will act as a reminder for all employers that they have a legal duty to protect their staff.” Alan Ritchie, general secretary of the construction union UCATT, said it was “an important first step in the campaign to establish Workers’ Memorial Day as a bank holiday, in order to ensure that all workers have an opportunity to remember their friends and colleagues who have been killed or injured at work.”
BFAWU news release • URTU news release • UCATT news release • UNISON news release • Risks 442
Hazards news, 6 February 2010

Britain: Campaigners point to true work toll
Union-backed workplace justice and safety groups have said the government’s formal recognition of Workers’ Memorial Day should be backed up with a new system of official statistics to recognise that tens of thousands, not hundreds, are killed by work every year. Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) and the Hazards Campaign say the real toll demonstrates why there needs to be a renewed government emphasis on health and safety enforcement. FACK founder member Linzi Herbertson said: “We want all those killed by work either in incidents or through illnesses caused by bad working conditions, to be remembered. FACK members cannot understand why some workers killed at sea, or in the air, or on the roads, or through work stress suicide, plus all the members of the public killed by work activities, are not included in the official figures” published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Both FACK and the Hazards Campaign say these HSE figures systematically under-estimate the deadly impact of work-related ill-health. Hilda Palmer of the Hazards Campaign said “if we include the many thousands who die from illnesses caused by their working conditions the total could be as high as 50,000 a year! Government has long been criticised for under-estimating deaths from work- related cancers which even the most conservative estimate by global experts is about 18,000 each year.”
FACK news release • Hazards Campaign news release • Risks 442
Hazards news, 6 February 2010

Britain: Workers’ Memorial Day – it’s official!
The UK will officially recognise Workers’ Memorial Day to commemorate thousands of people who have died, been seriously injured or made ill through their work, cabinet minister Yvette Cooper has announced. To mark the day this year, the TUC is calling for two minute’s silence in workplaces up and down the country at noon on Wednesday 28 April.
DWP news release • TUC news release and Workers’ Memorial Day webpages • International 28 April website • Risks 441
Hazards news, 30 January 2010

News from earlier years