Fort St. John remembers fallen workers around the world

“Every 15 seconds in the world a worker dies,” he told the gathered crowd.

In Canada, on average 1,000 workers die a year, or three every day, and another 250,000 are injured. In B.C. there were 149 occupational deaths in 2012, and five in our region, which is being considered an improvement, as the average is normally eight to ten.

Most recently, a young mail carrier was killed in a collision with a logging truck northeast of Chetwynd. Gaehring says that tragedy shows that workplace accidents “can happen at anytime”. His goal is to one year have no deaths to report in our area.

WorkSafeBC senior regional officer Budd Philips also spoke, acknowledging the families and communities that are impacted by any workplace death or injuries. Families mourning the loss of a loved one laid flowers at the memorial, along with two wreaths, before the crowd observed a moment of silence.