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WORKERS: Today's your official day

| April 28, 2010 10:00 PM

The first official United States Workers Memorial Day was observed April 28, 1989. This date was chosen because it is the anniversary of the formation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the day of a similar remembrance in Canada. Every year, people in hundreds of communities and worksites recognize workers who have been killed or injured on the job.

 In this country, on average, 14 workers die on the job as a result of workplace injuries—women and men  who go to work, never to return home to their families and loved ones.

In 2009, seven Idaho workers lost their lives on the job:  Harvey Thompson, concussion, logging truck accident; Gary Lindgren, asphyxiation from a fire; Kelly E Smith, asphyxiation from engulfment in an open trench; Maximino Hernandez, concussion, struck by a felled tree; Mario Munoz, asphyxiation from engulfment in a  sugar silo ; Victor Padilla, laceration, caught in machinery; Alexander Dominguez, crushed, equipment roll-over.

Let us take a moment from our day and remember these Idaho workers, and all workers that have been killed on the job.

Work safe.

BRAD CEDERBLOM

President, North Idaho Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO