LINCOLN, NE – Each day, 13 people die in work-related incidents in the U.S., on average. In 2020, about 5,000 workers died in the U.S. in work-related fatalities. Tens of thousands more die of work-related diseases.
On April 28, as the nation marks Workers Memorial Day, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is joining families, workers, advocates and labor organizations across the country to remember those who lost their lives on the job and recognize the impact these tragic losses have on families, co-workers and communities.
In 2020, 18 workers in Nebraska lost their lives.
On the steps of the Nebraska Capitol Building in Lincoln, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Jim Frederick and Tonya Ford, director of the United Support & Memorial for Workplace Fatalities – an organization dedicated to helping families of fallen workers and promoting safe and healthful working conditions – will sign an alliance on the evening of April 28 to cement their collaboration to raise awareness of workplace safety and health issues.
In addition to the signing event, a candlelight vigil will be held and surviving family members will gather as the names of workers fatally injured on the job are read. The ceremony begins at 7 p.m. at 1445 K. Street.
“The United Support & Memorial for Workplace Fatalities has turned grief into action by working to provide awareness and educate the public on workplace safety issues,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Jim Frederick. “The organization has worked with OSHA to develop ways to communicate OSHA fatality findings to workers’ families and create a new Workers Memorial webpage. The signing of this alliance will help us raise the voices of families whose loved ones failed to return home from a job.”
USMWF is a nonprofit, grassroots organization that offers support, guidance and resources to families affected by work-related incidents, diseases and illnesses. It seeks to promote workplace safety and health and prevent future workplace tragedies. The organization launched its “Faces Campaign Tribute” in 2009 to give workplace fatalities a face, honor fallen workers, gain awareness, and educate the public, workers, employees and government organizations.
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