The head of the Hamilton and District Labor Council (HDLC) says it is unfortunate that the city is marking the National Day of Mourning just days after news broke of two workplace accidents in which one person was killed and another suffered “moderate” injuries.
“These deaths are happening continuously, day by day, not just in Hamilton… (but) all over the world,” HDLC President Anthony Marco told 900 CHML’s Good Morning Hamilton.
“I mean, we call it a national day of mourning, but now over 100 different countries celebrate it.”
Marco’s examples include the death of a 36-year-old man struck by a forklift at Janco Steel on Tuesday and the trip to hospital of a 37-year-old Ancaster construction worker from a site on Golf Links Road on Wednesday morning. .
Both incidents are the subject of ongoing Labor Ministry investigations, according to a ministry spokesperson.
The National Day of Mourning is celebrated in multiple ways across Canada, including flags being lowered to half-staff on government buildings and a moment of silence at 11 a.m.
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The initiative calls on governments and workplaces to commit to protecting workers and preventing workplace tragedies.
The latest published injury report from the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada (AWCBC) in 2019 recorded 925 workplace injuries in Canada with more than 270,000 claims filed for lost time due to a work-related injury or illness. worked.
Hamilton will commemorate the day by lighting the yellow City Hall sign and laying wreaths in a 5 pm ceremony at a memorial located at Main Street West and Bay Street South.
“We have seen the importance in recent years of protecting workers during our response to COVID-19,” Mayor Fred Eisenberger said during a recent council meeting.
“We have learned that injury and illness prevention requires collective commitment, collaboration and expertise to ensure the health, safety and well-being of our employees.”
Marco said he hopes the move will spur more media coverage related to worker injuries, which is often rare due to the limited information on incidents that is published by authorities related to incidents.
He said he believes that sharing the plight of the victims and the nature of the events at his workplace can go a long way toward holding an employer to account through police and labor ministry investigations.
“In most cases, I mean, I’m never going to personally meet the person who was injured or killed,” Marco said.
“But then I think about the impact it has, not just on family, co-workers. This person is part of the Hamilton community.”
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