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USW Director of Health, Safety and Environment Mike Wright and progressive talk show host Leslie Marshall this week discussed Workers Memorial Day and the importance of fighting for safe working conditions in all workplaces.
“The real purpose of Workers Memorial Day is two things,” said Wright. “One is to remember our brothers and sisters lost in the workplace and the other is to rededicate ourselves to making sure we do everything we can to try prevent workplace tragedies in the future.”
Too often companies circumvent safety regulations or disable safety features just to bolster their bottom line. Workers bear the brunt of these decisions through life-altering injuries and sometimes even death.
The USW fights for the safety and wellbeing of all workers, trying to get companies to follow safety guidelines and prioritize worker health. Yet despite this work, said Wright, there are still workplace fatalities, including 33 Steelworkers killed on the job in the last year.
“There are so many ways to die in the workplace, but they all have one common characteristic,” said Wright, “All of those accidents were preventable. If the time had been taken to look and really assess the hazard—to figure out what could go wrong and what would address it—all of those people would be alive.”
Click the audio to hear the full discussion.
Background Material
Lucky to Be Alive on Workers’ Memorial Day
Occupational Safety and Health on Workers Memorial Day
Bureau of Labor Statistics on Fatal Occupational Injuries
Facts About Worker Safety and Health
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