Victorian Trades Hall Council. The voice of Victorian workers since 1856.Victorian Trades Hall Council. The voice of Victorian workers since 1856.

Trades Hall honours fallen workers on Workers Memorial Day

Unions and families gathered at Trades Hall today to commemorate fallen workers on International Workers Memorial Day.
Trade union leaders and representatives of families honoured the memory of workers who’ve died at work and promised to fight to protect the living.

 
Victorian Trades Hall Secretary, Brian Boyd, told the gathering that unions needed to stand up for health and safety in workplaces.
 “We know the federal government’s agenda to get rid of unions from Australian workplaces will weaken safeguards for workers and increase the likelihood of workplace injury and death.”
The VTHC and the Industrial Deaths Support and Advocacy (IDSA) hosted the commemoration service at the Workers’ Memorial, which included an internationally observed minute of silence. Families of workers who have died on the job participated in the commemoration.
The commemoration was one of many events held throughout Australia. It is estimated that around 10,000 separate events are held in 100 countries throughout the world to mark International Workers Memorial Day.
International Workers’ Memorial Day was first marked by Canadian unions in 1984 and was adopted internationally in 1996. Australian unions began observing the day in 1996. In Victoria a memorial service is held each year at the Memorial Rock at Trades Hall.
The memorial rock was unveiled in 2000 to commemorate those workers who have lost their lives as a result of their work.


Workers Memorial Day 2006 

Workplace Fatalities since April 2005

1.  7 May
A 42-year-old man was crushed when a rubbish skip in the process on being moved from a truck onto a trailer fell, resulting in fatal injuries at Maryborough

2.  25 May   
A 31-year-old maintenance fitter working on a paper machine at Maryvale was struck by a large roller causing sustaining fatal injuries. The machine was undergoing maintenance at the time.

3.  15 July  
38-year-old man was conducting maintenance work on a large fixed jaw within a rock crushing machine. He died when the jaw fell crushing him at Donnybrook.

4.  11 September 
A man sustained fatal injuries as a result of being crushed between the top rail of a scissor lift and roof member at Braybrook.

5.   31 October   
A 41-year-old male falling trees in a logging coupe near Rawson in Gippsland when a 40 metre high free-standing tree fell and struck him.

6.   8 November 
A 44-year-old male operating a forklift at an Irymple factory struck a pole causing the forklift to tip, crushing the operator.

7.   17 November 
A 27-year-old man died when a steel work stand undergoing a repair at Ballarat.

8.   25 November
A 52-year old truck driver fell more than four metres from the top of a grain transport during loading at Drouin.

9.   4 December   
A 54-year-old truck driver died when he was struck by a load which fell from a truck being loaded by a forklift at Moorooduc.

10.   7 January
At Mirboo North,a 49 year old woman fell from a moving tractor and was run over on her family property

11.   9 January 
A truck delivering lime to a South Gippsland  came into contact with power lines electrocuting the driver.

12.   23 January    
A volunteer firefighter died when he was thrown from a fire truck which rolled down an embankment. 

13.   17 February  
Another volunteer fire fighter was run over by fire truck at a fire scene and sustained fatal injuries.

14.   8 March   Construction
A concrete precast panel fell at Pakenham during the erection process and crushed an employee.

15.   19 April                                Transport
A truck driver was electrocuted when his tip truck hit power lines near Nhill in
north-west Victoria.

16.   20 April                                 Manufacturing 
A man died in hospital a week after suffering crushing injuries at Abbotsford

17.  22 April                                 Maintenance contractor
A 26-year-old man died in hospital after suffering an electric shock while changing display light globes at a car dealership in Coburg North. 

18.   23 April    Teacher
A teacher who was at a school property near Wodonga was crushed by a tree.

19.   27 April   Construction
A 64-year-old man died in hospital after falling 4.5 on a house construction site at Wonga Park.   He was a painter.


Fatalities per Calendar year          
2005 - 18                              
2004 - 29                           
2003 - 27                            
2002 - 34                           
2001 - 34                             
2000 - 30          

Medical treatment and rehabilitation of injured workers costs Victoria’s employer-funded workplace injury compensation scheme (WorkCover) more than $1billion a year. Around 30,000 claims were made in the 2004-05 financial year.


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