Press Release

Workers Memorial Day: Not just a commemorative exercise

15 October 2009

In July 2009 the Government launched a public consultation to ascertain what form of recognition Workers Memorial Day should take in the United Kingdom. The government's view is that it should be an occasion for remembrance of those workers who have died as a result of work-related accidents or ill-health.

The British Safety Council, in its response to the consultation, has argued strongly that that it should not only be an occasion for remembrance but as an opportunity for organisations to demonstrate the positive actions they are taking to help improve the future health and safety of their workers.

When the International Labour Organisation recognised Workers Memorial Day in 2001 it announced that it would be an International Day of Action for Safety and Health at Work. Yet, the UK government has chosen to focus upon remembrance rather than action. We believe that this narrow focus is misguided. The ILO slogan urges us to "fight for the living".

Whilst we agree wholeheartedly that it should provide people with an opportunity to reflect on friends, relatives and colleagues who have died as a result of workplace ill-health and injury, some 21,000 each year in the UK, we also believe that Workers Memorial Day should be the focus for proactive, affirmative action. The best way to do justice to those killed through work related accidents and ill health is by striving to prevent more accidents and deaths in the future.

The British Safety Council advocates the adoption of an additional and more fundamental aim for Workers Memorial Day – bringing workers and employers together to promote the ethical, social and business case for preventing workplace injury and ill-health. We must stress the vital importance of employers, workers, trade unions, government, the regulator and other stakeholders working together to prevent this continuing but avoidable tragedy of work related death.

The British Safety Council has some 10,000 member organisations. We will urge our membership to mark Workers Memorial Day by providing training, health and wellbeing services, campaigns and other initiatives aimed at protecting their workforce. Workers Memorial Day must be embraced as an occasion when employers make an extra effort to improve standards of health and safety in the workplace.