Officers of the Tumwater Fire Department toll the bell as the names of each of the 69 Washington workers who died as a result of workplace injuries are read at the annual Worker Memorial Day ceremony at Labor & Industries headquarters Thursday. In the background, Jeff Johnson of the Washington State Labor Council reads the list.
TUMWATER, April 27.—In a ceremony at Department of Labor and Industries headquarters in Tumwater Thursday, Washington state paid tribute to the 69 workers who died on the job last year.
They ranged from prison guard Jayme Biendl, whose violent death at the state penitentiary in Monroe continues to make headlines a year later, to industrial workers who died years after exposure to dangerous chemicals and substances at the workplace. Three state employees, including Biendl, made this year’s list.
About 250 people, including 100 family members, listened as members of the Tumwater Fire Department tolled the bell for each name that was read. “Today it is important for us to remember why we need to drive these numbers down, as our state and our communities are forever changed when we lose people like the individuals on this list that we are honoring today,” said Judy Schurke, director of the Department of Labor and Industries.
It was the 19th Worker Memorial Day ceremony held by the state, a commemoration originally sought by labor nationwide and which has become increasingly important to business as well. At this year’s event, speakers included Jeff Johnson, president of the Washington State Labor Council, Don Brunell, president of the Association of Washington Business, David Kaplan, executive director of the Washington Self-Insurers Association, and Marty Brown, director of the Office of Financial Management, who represented Gov. Christine Gregoire.
Kaplan said, “It is vitally important that we all work together to make the workplace a safe place to be, to avoid preventable accidents so that other families won’t suffer the loss that you have. How do we do that? By making sure we all work together so that employers have effective safety programs that combine components of regulation, education, work environment and behavior in a way that gives workers tools and knowledge they need to work safely in their particular profession. Our challenge is to continually improve the results of these programs so that no more workers lose their lives simply because they went to work.”
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