Workers Who Died on the Job Remembered on Workers’ Memorial Day

Chicago, IL (Law Firm Newswire) June 26, 2013 – Illinois citizens held a ceremony recently to honor workers who died on the job.

Workers and their families gathered on the north lawn of the Illinois State Capitol on April 28 to commemorate Workers’ Memorial Day, a day set aside to honor workers who died on the job. The gathering was organized by the AFL-CIO.

“Far too many workers are injured or lose their lives on the job,” said Robert Briskman, a Chicago workers’ compensation attorney. “Memorials like this one are an important reminder of the terrible price that some workers have paid.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2011 there were 4,600 workplace fatalities in the United States, and another 50,000 deaths due to occupational illnesses. In Illinois, there were 177 workplace fatalities and 124,700 work-related injuries.

Mary Catteau, a Pawnee resident, told the State Journal-Register that she had been coming to the Springfield ceremony for years. Catteau said that she had lost a brother, a cousin and an uncle in separate work-related incidents. Her brother, Senei Catteau, died in 1996 when a pile of coal fell on him while he was driving a coal-moving tractor at a Commonwealth-Edison plant in Kincaid, Illinois. At the time, there were no cabs or cages to protect the drivers of such tractors, but Mary Catteau said that such protection was provided after her brother’s death.

Workers’ Memorial Day is commemorated around the world each year on April 28 to honor workers killed or injured on the job. The organizers of Workers’ Memorial Day are also seeking to improve workplace safety. According to the AFL-CIO, nearly all of the 4,600 workplace deaths that occurred in 2011 could have been prevented.

Participants in the ceremony laid more than 50 roses at the Illinois Workers’ Memorial, a 3,000-pound bronze sculpture of three workers located on the lawn of the State Capitol building. The memorial was paid for by donations from union members and is dedicated to Illinois workers who were killed or injured on the job. The memorial was dedicated on Workers’ Memorial Day, 1992.

Robert Briskman is a Chicago workers’ compensation attorney and Chicago workers compensation lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/

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