Dozens gather to remember victims of work-related fatalities

BRANDON — With flags flapping in the light breeze outside Brandon’s City Hall Sunday morning, more than 50 people gathered for the National Day of Mourning ceremony to remember the Manitobans who died last year after suffering injuries or illness at work.

In Manitoba, there were 23 workers who died on the job in 2023 because of working conditions or succumbing to diseases or health problems brought on by using hazardous materials years earlier, according to Kevin Rebeck, president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour.

“These are everyday workers who do all kinds of jobs,” said Rebeck. “Certainly, some are more dangerous and hazardous than others – fire department and construction, but people in all walks of life have passed away from workplace tragedies over the last year,” said Rebeck.

A trend that continues to increase is the number of injuries caused by violence in the workplace, Rebeck said.

More than 1,500 Manitobans were hurt by violence while they were working, Rebeck said, and of the 25,000 who reported accidents to Workers Compensation Board, about half of them were hurt seriously enough that they missed time from work.

“We think part of the rise in workplace violence can be attributed to addictions, lack of mental health supports out there in the community, homelessness, rising costs, and poverty that people are facing,” said Rebeck.

“People are frustrated and all too often they lash out at workers, whether that’s in health care, whether it’s violence in stores, aimed at security guards, bus drivers, education workers, or social service workers. There’s hardly a sector that hasn’t seen an increase in violence and violent incidents.”

Carol Grant, a front-line health care worker at Brandon Regional Health Centre, took part in Sunday’s memorial service by reading out some of the names of those who died last year. She said she’s noticed a high incidence of health care workers being assaulted “on a daily basis.”

“We understand there are things like increased drug and alcohol addiction, and we realize they can’t help themselves. But we also believe we should be able to go to work and not be groped, we should be able to go to work and not be punched and spit at,” Grant said.

“We should have freedom from fear and freedom from being injured while you’re doing for people, what you love to do.”

This is the 40th year the memorial service has been held in the Wheat City, organized by the Brandon and District Labour Council, said Kirk Carr, president.

“We want people to come home from work,” said Carr. “That’s why we work, so we can spend that money made — with our families.

“And it’s usually safety measures that weren’t there, or training that wasn’t there that causes these deaths, about 99 per cent of them.”

Half of the workplace fatalities every year in Manitoba is attributed to an occupational disease which is a health problem caused by exposure to a workplace health hazard by inhaling substances and fumes.

Examples of an occupational disease include cancer, asthma, silicosis, which is a lung disease that affects workers in construction or mining jobs, and asbestosis — caused by inhaling asbestos fibres.

Carr added more attention needs to be put on those who died because of those types of exposures.

“There are still a lot of old buildings and once you start going behind a wall or moving some flooring, the asbestos is there. It was used in old building materials back in the day, but some people don’t realize it.

“And it is long-term, sometimes the effects don’t hit you until 10 ,15 or 20 years later. So that’s why it’s so hard for it to get recognized by WCB,” said Carr.

The Manitoba Federation of Labour’s Rebeck said they’ve had success with getting industry-based safety associations established in many sectors which has “started to make a shift into a better safety culture.”

Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett said while the goal of the City of Brandon is to make sure everyone gets home safe from work, he said it was important for him to attend the memorial service to show the workers and their unions, support.

“Through the actions of a lot of the groups that are involved here today, the legislation has definitely helped to make a better situation for everyone on a day-to-day basis,” Fawcett said.

Also in attendance was Glen Simard, Brandon East NDP MLA and Sport, Culture, Heritage and Tourism minister, who said to honour the “victims of workplace death is really important.”

“There are no shortcuts in safety, and I think that’s something that all employers need to commit to upholding, that employees are the most valuable resource, but also to remember the sanctity of life,” said Simard.

With 40 years of being a farmer and a producer, Manitoba Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn spoke during the ceremony and said there is a high percentage of farming accidents because of challenges and risks that sometimes “we don’t pay attention to.”

“Especially when you get into this time of the year, where time is of the essence with seeding. We need to have the message resonate because we’ve had too many terrible stories. If only we’d taken that extra second or extra minute to think about who’s behind this piece of equipment and who’s in front of the piece of equipment,” Kostyshyn told the Sun.

For Rebeck, the next step is to continue to work with WCB and push for more money to be spent on prevention, “to make things safe for workers.”

But always in his sights, he added, is to set a standard for safety training and to provide protective equipment for people to use while removing asbestos, the number one killer for occupational diseases in Manitoba and Canada.

“The disconnect in recent years seems to be this hesitancy by governments to say, ‘we’ve got to figure out a national standard’, but until we can all agree on it, we’re not doing anything, which is frankly, crap.

“We should be a leader, we should establish those standards here in Manitoba for Manitoba workers, as quickly as possible,” Rebeck said.

— Brandon Sun