The location of an upcoming National Day of Mourning for Workers Injured on Killed on the Job event in New Westminster will be a poignant reminder of the need for safe workplaces.
The New Westminster and District Labour Council will hold the April 28 service in Westminster Pier Park, a stone’s throw away from the spot where four workers lost their lives in a workplace accident on Jan. 10, 2003.
Four workers died of anoxia, or lack of oxygen, while working on a Westminster Marine Services Ltd. barge. When one of the barge workers didn’t return from a coffee break, three other went looking for him – and they didn’t return. A fifth worker took part in the search and managed to call 911 before passing out.
The first New Westminster firefighter who arrived at the scene was also found unconscious at the bottom of the ladder leading into the hold. Three workers died at the scene, a fourth later died at hospital, another worker was released from the hospital the day after the tragedy and the firefighter was in the hospital for a week with assorted injuries.
The New Westminster and District Labour Council is holding its national Day of Mourning event at Westminster Pier Park, with the event beginning at the concession area. At the conclusion of the formal ceremony, a procession will walk to a nearby location in the park.
“We will take our wreaths and our roses and lay them there at that location,” said Carolyn Rice, secretary-treasurer of the New Westminster and District Labour Council. “That’s the spot where those Westminster Marine workers were killed.”
Since being officially recognized by the federal government in 1991, the National Day of Mourning has spread to other countries. The Canadian Labour Congress launched the event eight years earlier as a way of remembering workers who have been killed or injured on the job and encouraging action to prevent workplace deaths, illnesses and injuries.
“I think it’s really important,” Rice said of the event. “Often we don’t recognize the work that many of our unions do every day that makes a difference for every single worker in the country, not just people who belong to unions. It’s important, I think, to remind ourselves where we have made progress, where we have made laws better, where we have helped to educate workers, where we have got things in place that make employers accountable.”
New Westminster is no stranger to workplace deaths and accidents.
In January, two workers were killed at a New West lumber yard after being crushed by a load of lumber at the United Gateway Logistics Inc. yard in Queensborough. On Nov. 17, 2004, Lyle Hewer died after he was smothered by debris in a grinding machine at the Weyerhaeuser sawmill.
The Canadian Labour Congress has indicated 3,800 Canadians died in workplace accidents over a four-year period, Rice said, noting that doesn’t account for workers who have died because of industrial diseases or unreported cases.
“We are saying it’s whole communities that are impacted,” Rice said. “We met with the families of those two workers that got killed in January – I tell you, my heart was torn. Devastating. It is devastating to those families what has happened to them.”
The Day of Mourning event is on Thursday, April 28 at 7:30 a.m. at Westminster Pier Park.
