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TUMWATER—The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) honored the 97 Washington State workers who lost their lives due to job-related injuries or illness last year, during its annual Worker Memorial Day ceremony on Thursday, April 24.

Held each April, the L&I’s annual ceremony serves as a reminder that preventable workplace injuries and deaths have a deep impact on the people of Washington State. This is the 32nd time L&I has held the annual Worker Memorial Day ceremony. It’s one of many events in April honoring fallen workers across the nation.

Bagpipes and drums resonated through the halls of the L&I’s Tumwater headquarters Thursday afternoon, performed by the Puget Sound Firefighters Pipes and Drums, before two members of the Tumwater Fire Department – Lieutenant Scott Kennedy and Battalion Chief AC Bates – rang a bell for each of the fallen workers.

The ceremony was emceed by Joel Sacks, Director of the Department of Labor and Industries who shared a few words before Department of Corrections Chaplain Jeffrey Jones gave the invocation and benediction.

“To each of you who lost a loved one in a workplace illness or injury, we offer you our deepest condolences. We’re here today to honor your lost family members in today’s ceremony,” said Sacks. “Each of the 97 workers we’re honoring today woke up in the morning, went to work, expecting to return home healthy, to their family, to their loved ones. They had plans, they had families. They lived their unique lives each, and every, day. They worked hard to support their families and strove to make their workplace, their communities, a better place.”

Sacks continued that it’s the L&I’s mission to keep Washington working and working safe, which requires daily commitment to ensure its workers can carry out their duties and responsibilities in the safest conditions possible.

With that he welcomed Washington State Governor Bob Ferguson to the podium, who shared his condolences before telling the story of when he first began thinking about workplace safety.

Gov. Ferguson’s older brother John, an Alaskan fisherman of over 40 years, was working up in Alaska when he encountered a dangerous storm. Thankfully, his brother John made it through, but he expressed to Ferguson that he had ‘never seen a sky that dark or a sea that rough’ – sharing how scared he was, in that moment, for his life.

Ferguson mentioned that it was this moment when he realized that his brother could go up to Alaska and never come home again. As Governor he shared that realization rings just as true as ever, as he is now tasked with the important responsibility of fighting for a safe work environment for all.

“We’re remembering folks who did something important. They worked, and through that contribution through their work helped others, helped their colleagues, and helped their state. They were dedicated professionals doing important work for all of us,” said Ferguson. “Their work was important, and they are remembered deeply for it.”

Next April Sims, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, shared a few words on behalf of the, more than, 600 affiliated unions representing over half-a-million union members across the state.

“Workers Memorial Day is a day of grief and reflection but it is also a day of purpose. We gather to remember those who went to work and never came home, and those who’s lives were changed forever, by illness or injury,” said Sims. “The names we hear today are not just numbers to be tallied. They are dreams unfulfilled, they are family members missing from our lives, they’re workers who went to work one morning and never returned.”

Sims quoted Mother Jones, a labor organizer, who famously said “we mourn the dead but fight like hell for the living,” adding that those words are just as true today as when she declared them in 1902.

Emily Wittman, with the Association of Washington Business (AWB), followed Sims sharing that she is filled with gratitude that her father, a commercial electrician of 35 years, came home safe every day from work. Her father’s mentor, and colleague, however, was not as fortune – being diagnosed with Mesothelioma due to asbestos-related exposure.

As Wittman’s father and his mentor worked alongside each other in close quarters, Whitman was worried that her father might have a similar diagnosis. Whitman’s father, on the other hand, was not as worried because he knew that work safety regulations have changed for the better.

“When rules are followed and rules are enforced, and employers want to follow the rules, then lives are saved,” said Wittman. “Your workforce is your family and your family walks through the door at the end of the day.”

Matt Saxon, former President of the Washington Self Insurers Association, Nghi Tran, Pension Adjudicator Supervisor, L&I Insurance Supervisor, and Karen Michael, Industrial Hygiene Manager, L&I’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, followed these speakers with words of their own.

Last to speak, and before the memorial ceremony concluded with 97 bell rings honoring each of the fallen Washington State workers, was Heidi Bryan who lost her son due to a logging incident on February 10, 2014.

“Tyler lived every day of his life to the fullest,” said Bryan. “Having sat in the seats that you sit in today my heart breaks for each and every one of you. I called it a grief journey because it’s an ongoing process and it’s not something that goes away or you get over. Grief just gets different – similar to a cut or open wound that eventually develops scar tissue but still is always present.”

The 97 workers honored by bell ring ranged in age from 16 to 90. 33 of these workers died from exposure to toxic chemics, which was the leading cause of workplace-related injuries last year. Thirteen of those had worked at Hanford. Others worked as firefighters, pipefitters, or in other industries that work with hazardous chemicals.

Motor vehicle accidents also took the lives of more than a dozen of the workers being recognized, including Washington State Trooper Chris Gadd, who was just 27 years old when a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed crashed into his vehicle.

After the ringing of the bells families were invited to ring a brass bell of their own, in the Worker Memorial Garden on the grounds of L&I’s headquarters and share some memories of their own about their passed loved ones.

“We work so hard to prevent the dangers we can see,” Sacks added. “These tragedies remind us that we cannot ignore the hazards we don’t see — what we breathe and what gets on our clothes can also be deadly.”

Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown released a press statement following the L&I Worker Memorial ceremony writing:

“Washington workers dying from job-related injuries and illnesses is a deep loss to our entire community. State governments have an important role to play in protecting worker health and safety. The Attorney General’s Office is committed to working with labor, business, and other areas of government to prevent workplace deaths, injuries and disease. We are proud to represent, advise, and partner with L&I in its mission to ‘Keep Washington Safe and Working.’”

Author: Kienan Briscoe