National Day of Mourning

April 27, 2011

Thursday, April 28 is the National Day of Mourning. This day of remembrance was officially recognized by the federal government in 1991 and has since spread to about 80 countries around the world and been adopted by the AFL-CIO and the International Confederation of Free Trade. The International Day of Mourning is set aside to not only commemorate the dead, ill and injured, but also raise awareness of the importance of occupational health and safety and its role in preventing these needless tragedies. Here are three ways in which you can "mourn for the dead, fight for the living":

Be a safety mentor to a new worker. Mentoring is an effective way to train new workers and to show them how to be safe. Take the time to show an apprentice how to be safe on the job.
Find the lesson to be learned from a workplace injury or fatality you've heard about or which involved you or someone you know.
No matter what part of Canada you're in, take a moment of silence to honour a friend, family member or colleague.