National Day of Mourning: Renew Your Commitment to Safety

For Immediate Release

April 20, 2016 – Hamilton, ON – Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS)

In 2014, 919 workplace fatalities were recorded in Canada – including the deaths of thirteen teenagers. On April 28, the National Day of Mourning, Canadian flags on Parliament Hill and on federal government buildings will fly at half-mast to honour the workers whose lives have been lost, who have been injured or disabled on the job, or who suffer from occupational disease. Employers and workers will observe the National Day of Mourning in a variety of ways. Some will attend ceremonies, light candles, lay wreaths, wear commemorative pins, ribbons or black armbands, and pause for a moment of silence at 11:00 a.m.

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) reminds us that the National Day of Mourning offers an opportunity to strengthen the resolve to create safe and healthy workplaces, and prevent further injuries and deaths. As much as this is a day to remember the dead, it is also a call to protect the living.

More information about the National Day of Mourning can be found on the CCOHS website.

Quick Facts

  • In 2014, 919 workplace deaths were recorded in Canada; more than 2.5 deaths every single day.
  • Included in the fatalities were thirteen teenaged young workers and another twenty-five workers aged twenty to twenty-four years.
  • 239,643 claims were accepted in 2014 for lost time due to a work-related injury or disease, including 7,998 from young workers aged fifteen to nineteen.
  • These statistics only include fatalities and claims reported and accepted by the compensation boards; the actual numbers could be higher.
  • In 1991, eight years after the day of remembrance was launched by the Canadian Labour Congress, the Parliament of Canada passed the Workers Mourning Day Act making April 28 an official Day of Mourning.
  • The Day of Mourning has since spread to about 100 countries around the world and is recognized as Workers’ Memorial Day and as International Workers' Memorial Day by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).
  • To help promote awareness in the workplace of this important day, CCOHS has designed a series of bilingual posters made available free of charge as well as other tools including awareness stickers and commemorative pins.
  • Statistics Source: Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada (AWCBC), National Work Injury/Disease Statistics Program (NWISP).

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