Search

Attention: industrial and health and safety correspondents

Every hour, someone dies in Britain because their work gave them a fatal disease

The TUC is marking International Workers’ Memorial Day today (Sunday) with the largest ever number of local events around Great Britain, including church services organised by trade union members of the Amicus MSF clergy and church workers section, dedication events for memorial trees, releasing back balloons, lectures, film shows and demonstrations.

The events will draw attention to the role that better occupational health services could play in a public health disaster which kills at least 10,000 people a year - more than one every hour of every day of the year. Half of those dying from occupational diseases are suffering from asbestos-related diseases, and the others are dying from cancers caused by chemicals, lung conditions caused by dusts, heart disease caused by stress and so on. In addition, thousands of people every year are killed in work-related accidents, and tens of thousands suffer serious injuries and illnesses.

TUC General Secretary John Monks said:

'Every hour of every day, a family in Britain loses someone they love. Those personal tragedies mask a public disgrace - because only a third of British workers have access to the sort of occupational health service that could save their lives. Around the world, work kills more people than war. Workers’ Memorial Day is when workers around the world mourn those deaths, and renew our commitment to create decent work at decent wages, not something that kills you.'

The TUC is calling for access to occupational health services for all workers (through a mixture of internal provision by their employers and provision through the NHS); a duty on employers to have a rehabilitation policy for when workers are injured or made ill; more resources for the Health and Safety Executive; and more rights for workplace union safety reps to work in partnership with employers to prevent injuries and illness.

This year Workers’ Memorial Day is for the first time ever being marked officially by the United Nations, whose International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva is organising a series of events worldwide including a memorial event at its Geneva-based headquarters where fire fighters’ unions from New York and around the world (including the FBU in Britain) will commemorate the trade union members and other workers killed on 11 September (a fifth of whom were from the emergency services). Four countries have made it an official day or mourning (Canada, Spain, Taiwan and Thailand) and Great Britain’s Health and Safety Executive is featuring the day on their Workers’ Web Page.

Notes to Editors:

A full list of trade union events on Workers’ Memorial Day is on the TUC website at http://www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/tuc-4783-f0.cfm There is also a briefing on occupational health issues at http://www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/tuc-4638-f0.cfm

Other sites containing information about Workers’ Memorial Day are the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) listing of events around the world at http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?Index=991215197&Language=EN

All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

Register for the TUC's press extranet: a service exclusive to journalists wanting to access

pre-embargo releases and reports from the TUC. Visit www.tuc.org.uk/pressextranet

A series of TUC rights leaflets are available on our website and from the know your rights line 0870 600 4 882. Lines are open every day from 8am-10pm. Calls are charged at the national rate.

Contacts:

Media enquiries: 020 7467 1248 or 07699 755102 (pager) or email media@tuc.org.uk

Other enquiries: Owen Tudor, TUC Health and Safety Specialist, on 07788 715261 or at otudor@tuc.org.uk

Press release (700 words) issued 28 Apr 2002