LIUNA General President Terry O’Sullivan
Every year, more than 4,000 workers in the United States and nearly 1,000 more in Canada head off to work and never make it back home. Every April 28th, known as Workers’ Memorial Day here in the U.S. and the National Day of Mourning in Canada, we remember those workers who died on the job. As we take a moment to honor the memory of these men and women, and the millions more who suffer through workplace injuries and unsafe job conditions on a daily basis, it’s important to remember one thing: many of these on-the-job injuries and fatalities could have been prevented.
“While low-road employers continue to put workers at risk, LIUNA battles every day to make sure our members show up to good, family-supporting jobs and get home safely,” says LIUNA General President Terry O’Sullivan. “The brothers and sisters of LIUNA have always stood up for the rights of working people, because going to work shouldn’t mean risking your life.”
Based on the most recent data available (2014), construction laborers in the U.S. and Canada suffered a total of 28,532 injuries that led to time away from work and 271 more lost their lives. The graphic below shows the many different ways that laborers were hurt or killed on the job. Progress has been made, but as these figures make clear, there is more work to be done.
Click here to download a PDF of the infographic below.
[Janet Lubman Rathner]
