Every Day Is April 28th

#April28 is the “Day of Mourning” for workers who have lost their lives on the job, but I don’t fully buy into it. I know, a HS Professional saying this?! How shocking! how absurd! Well bear with me for a moment here and let me explain myself…?

I was an #Ontario #MinistryOfLabour CHS Inspector for 5 years in Canada’s busiest city. I’ve been involved in enough critical injury and fatality investigations to last me a lifetime. From trench collapses to falls from heights, from electrical contacts to a suicide, I’ve been there and investigated that. I remember their names, and most times, their faces quite vividly. I’m not going to lie, it messed with me then, and sometimes messes with me now. April 28th is a great day (as good as any other) to broadcast the message and make it public, but it’s just another day. See, April 28th is another day that workers who have been killed on the job will never get to live, it’s just another day that their kids, loved ones, friends and pets go without them, another day where they’re just a memory.?

Those who know me personally know that I don’t put all the emphasis on the stacks of paperwork some “safety professionals” think changes the culture. In the construction industry, health and safety paperwork is essential to ensuring that all potential hazards are identified, assessed, and controlled, and while the paperwork does create a clear record of safety procedures and protocols which can be referred to if an incident occurs or if there is a need for investigation, it doesn't change a culture. The paperwork also helps protect organizational due diligence and can shape organizational values but really building a culture of safety goes beyond just completing paperwork. It requires a commitment from everyone in the organization to prioritize safety and make it an organizational core value. That is precisely where and when you make the difference, with the culture. No paperwork is going to save lives, whether it's a lot or a little, you absolutely need a strong safety culture.

While it’s important to recognize the significance of taking a day to mourn workers who have lost their lives on the job, it’s equally important (if not MORE important) to acknowledge that one day is not enough to truly honour the lives lost and prevent future tragedies. Every day is April 28th. It must be. We should strive every day to improve workplace safety and advocate for worker’s rights. When I was hired by the MOL I wasn’t a university or college graduate, I was a construction worker. I was in the trenches with muddy boots and dirty hands. I still think of myself as a #construction worker first and foremost. I know that life, and I know that for anything I say concerning safety to be respected (regardless of my Ministry of Labour background) I need to show them that I will get right down there with them and work alongside of them, and not just TELL them how to do something safely but SHOW them, involve them, and most importantly, LEARN from them. As health and safety professionals, we often get so caught up in our own jobs and careers that we forget why we do our job in the first place, for the people. We need to be able to learn from them, they're doing the work! We can't always just assume we know the best way given our profession.

These people, the workers, just like me and you have families, love, and reasons for living and working. I've investigated plenty of critical injuries and fatalities as an Inspector. A lot of the organizations involved had tons of safety paperwork but a real disconnect with the workforce, which leads to the lack of a thriving safety culture. A lot of the times you could tell how deep that void was by interviewing workers themselves. When a worker at the lowest level of the organization doesn't understand the safety program or feels like safety "is just something they make us do or sign to cover their butts", you're not doing them any favours. The way I see it, Mike, Craig, Will, Richard, and all the others whose untimely workplace deaths I was tasked with investigating will never see another April 28th. They’ll never see their daughters get married or their sons graduate high school. They’ll never sing in a band, ride a motorcycle or go to a baseball game again. I can tell you that they signed all the paperwork they had to though! That's something right?

You know, my very first #fatality #investigation was a young man by the name of Mike, as I mentioned above. Mike was a sewer-watermain worker who like many of us in this industry worked with his family day in and day out. Like most of us, he loved his job (even if we complain about it more than we should) and he loved being able to support his family earning an honest living. He had two young daughters and a wife he had been with since high school. Mike was buried in a trench collapse that was entirely preventable had procedures been followed to shore the walls and keep the spoil material far enough back from the edge of the trench to alleviate the surcharge. Mike had "trenching and excavations" training and signed all of the paperwork he was required to by the company. That was July of 2014. Will was the same age as Mike when he passed after falling two stories at the Eaton Centre in September of 2017. Will had a dog at home he considered like family and Will was trained in Working At Heights! Richard had 5 kids at home when he died on the job in June of 2018. Richard did a daily FLHA and signed it. April 28th is just a day on the calendar to their families and their loved ones.

See, I mourn for their loss and I pray for their families every day. I think about them every day. It's why I do what I do. I figure that the best honor I can give them is to be the HS Professional to our people that they needed before their deaths at work. April 28th is only a start. The industry needs to change, and I’m not just talking about the Construction industry, but the HS Industry as well. I keep them with me; I speak their names. A former MOL colleague once told me before I left the Ministry, “remember them, and be what they needed”. April 28th is the one day of mourning they’ve designated but remember this; every day is the day of mourning for the families who have lost their loved ones at work.

I know this may not sit well to some, and I truly believe that it is important for us as a society to honor the memory of workers who have lost their lives due to workplace incidents. This should not be limited to just one day of observance on April 28th, however. We should instead strive to create a culture of safety and awareness throughout the year where the well-being and safety of workers are at the forefront of our minds. By truly prioritizing safety every day, not just "on paper", we can ensure that workers return home safely to their families at the end of their shifts. If we do that, if we make it a priority, if we make every day April 28th, we can not only honor the memory of those who have lost their lives at work, but prevent future workplace incidents and injuries, ensuring that every worker’s life is valued and protected.?