BARBOURSVILLE, W.Va. — The names of 17 workers who died on the job in the past year in West Virginia were read aloud Tuesday at Barboursville City Park during the 38th annual Workers Memorial Day ceremony.
West Virginia AFL-CIO President Josh Sword said there always should be the expectation that the workplace is a safe place.
“No worker, no worker, should ever go to work and not come home alive, so we clearly have work to do,” Sword told MetroNews. “We have made progress over the years, I don’t think there’s any question about that but we still have work to do.”
Sword said we were all tragically reminded last week when the chemical incident happened in Institute how fragile life is. Two workers were killed.
“In an instant and we sometimes take for granted how dangerous the work we have here in West Virginia is,” Sword said.
The 17 workers who on their jobs in the past year should never be forgotten, Sword said.
“What we do today, on Workers Memorial Day, is a day to sort of catch our breath, reflect, honor those who died on the job and recommit that we are doing everything we can to keep workplaces safe.”
The recommitment is important, Sword said.
“It’s our hope that we’ll continue this fight to impact policy (at the federal, state and local level) so that one day on April 28th there are no names to read,” Sword said.