VANCOUVER—More than 200 people gathered Sunday at Jack Poole Plaza in Vancouver against the backdrop of a burning Olympic cauldron for the 2019 Day of Mourning in remembrance of workers killed or injured on the job.

Speakers from labour organizations and the local business community joined the family members of victims of workplace accidents to underscore the importance of workplace safety, and to advocate for increased protections for workers across the country.

One of those speakers, Mike Shaw, recounted a 2013 on-the-job skiing accident, which resulted in his neck being broken. At the time, he recalled, he was told by doctors he would never walk again.

Shaw, who stood proudly behind the podium on two feet in defiance of that original prognosis, was employed as a skiing coach at the time of his injury. He said his accident happened because he ignored his gut telling him something wasn’t right.

“At work, you’ve got to trust your gut instincts. If you ever feel like something is unsafe, don’t follow through on those actions,” he said.

“If you feel like you’re asked to do a job or a duty that doesn’t feel safe, then you’ve got to speak up. Nobody can tell what you’re thinking or feeling unless you use your voice.”

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Another speaker, Sadaf Abdul, shared the story of the 2010 loss of her father in a workplace accident, which she said was entirely preventable.

“My dad himself, going into work and seeing it was unsafe, should have refused to (work),” Abdul told the Star on Friday during a sit-down interview. “Everyone should know they have a right to refuse unsafe work.”

Last year, WorkSafeBC accepted claims for 131 work-related deaths. In 2017, it was 158 deaths, and 144 in 2016. Many of those deaths involved physical injuries: 40 involved “trauma” in 2018, and 25 involved motor vehicle accidents.

But Laird Cronk, president of the BC Federation of Labour, made a point during his speech on Sunday to underscore the number of B.C. workers killed on the job in 2018 was 187 — more than 40 per cent more fatalities than the 131 listed by WorkSafeBC as “accepted claims” for work-related deaths.

Speaking to the Star after the event, Cronk said he felt it was important to stress that workplace fatalities not recognized by a workers’ compensation claim — and therefore not included in WorkSafeBC statistics — still represent a loss of life in preventable workplace accidents.

“I just want to make sure people understand, when I was speaking today, that I believe in those numbers, that those numbers are important,” he said.

“There may not have been a (Workers’ Compensation Board) decision on them, but it’s important on the Day of Mourning — because those numbers are real people — that those numbers are included and emphasized.”

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Cronk, as well as several other speakers, emphasized the need for far stricter controls around how companies handle asbestos abatement.

While WorkSafeBC’s workplace fatality statistics have remained fairly static for the past decade, occupational disease has become the single leading cause of workplace-related death, largely because of asbestos, said Brian Erickson, WorkSafeBC’s interim president and CEO.

Sunday’s event was co-hosted by the BC Federation of Labour, the Vancouver & Labour District Council, the Workers’ Compensation Board of B.C. (WorkSafeBC), and the Business Council of B.C.

The Day of Mourning, now 35 years running, was first launched by the Canadian Labour Congress in 1984. The federal government officially recognized the day of remembrance in 1991.

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