Across the country, people took a moment to lower flags and mourn for lives lost due to workplace injury and illness.
Locally, the Day of Mourning ceremony was hosted at the Shaw House on Friday, April 27 with speeches from dignitaries and sober reminders of the consequences that can occur when workplace safety isn’t a priority.
“It’s important that the community understands that there’s a risk to all individuals,” said Town of Bonnyville Coun. Brian McEvoy. “Safety in the workplace should be paramount, and the Day of Mourning brings us all together as a community to remember the importance of safety and to mourn the loss of all workers in the province.”
MD of Bonnyville Coun. Dana Swigart added, “Workplace safety is very important because we have to look after each other and watch out in any actions we take.”
In 2017, Alberta lost 166 men and women to workplace injury or illness.
Ray Murphy attended the event to share his story about surviving a workplace incident, and remind others to always put safety first.
“I come from a farming background, where safety was secondary to getting the work done,” he expressed. “Over the years, it has changed and people’s mindset is changing. They realize how precious health and life is and you’ve got to assess the risk of whatever task you’re being asked to do.”
This year marked the third Day of Mourning ceremony for the Bonnyville - Cold Lake area.
During the event, attendees offered a moment of silence to express sympathy to the families, friends, and co-workers that were lost to workplace injury and illness. They tried to convey a message of creating a better and safer workplace environment in the region and province.
“Identification and awareness are the biggest ones. We should have an understanding of a scenario before we go into it and have a background on the work you’re doing,” explained Tim Graham, training manager at Astec Safety Inc. “Trial and error is not acceptable to learn things anymore. You use the experience of trial and error from other people that have done it so that you don’t have to go through it.”
There are risks involved in any job, whether it’s at an office or factory setting. Sometimes, people ignore small threats and dangers and businesses in the Town and MD of Bonnyville are instilling in locals’ minds that through proper training on how to use and care for safety equipment, those risks can be mitigated.
“It’s all about pre-planning. We have regular safety meetings. What we do as a company in the building is repetitive, and there’s still that percentage of anything can happen,” noted Gary Hunka, manager at Primco Dene. “You become so used to the procedure everyday and sometimes you overlook that important step.”
Prior to a moment of silence, Murphy shared the story of how he was injured while working on his farm. The incident left him a quadriplegic, but regardless of his injury, Murphy still continues his work to this day. He feels it helps him keep a good state of mind.
“I can’t do a lot of what I used to, but I can be useful and functional,” he said.
He encouraged everyone to think about the consequences of their actions, because it’s not only your own life you could be putting in danger, but others as well.
“If you don’t feel comfortable with (a job), or you don’t have the right tools or conditions, then you have a right to say ‘no I’m not going to do that,’” stressed Murphy.
Hunka added, “It’s important to have to regular communication as a group, there’s never a stupid question. If it concerns you, it’s important.”
