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2008

Government should honour dead and injured workers

Date Released: 28 Apr 2008

SIPTU’s General Secretary, Joe O’Flynn, has called on the Government to honour ‘International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers’ – celebrated around the world on April 28 - by taking steps to eliminate work-related deaths.

“Around 1,400 workers are killed needlessly each year because of work related activities,” said Mr. O’Flynn.  “This represents a huge numbers of lives lost due to inadequate and dangerous safety and health standards.”

“It is time the Irish Government recognised the wide range of causes of work-related deaths in line with the definition laid down by the International Labor Organisation (ILO) and the European Agency’s definitions - including road traffic deaths, cancer deaths, heart disease deaths and respiratory deaths.

“When the ILO looked at Ireland’s safety and health statistics, they found that instead of an average of 60 work-related deaths per year, (Ireland’s official statistics) when all causes were included - the numbers rose to between 1,300 and 1,400 fatalities per year - over 20 times higher than our official statistics.”

Mr. O’Flynn also called for all absences from work for more than three days, due to work-related illnesses and diseases, to be reportable to the Health and Safety Authority - similar to absences of more than 2 days due to workplace accidents - as an additional constructive measure to protect workers.

Editor’s Note:

The unions of the AFL-CIO remember all the workers who are killed, injured or diseased because of their jobs on April 28.  The first’ Workers Memorial Da’y was observed in 1989. April 28 was chosen because it is the anniversary of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the day of a similar remembrance in Canada. Every year, people in hundreds of communities and at worksites recognize workers who have been killed or injured on the job. Trade unionists around the world now mark April 28 as an International Day of Mourning.





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