TORONTO, April 21, 2017 /CNW/ - The Ontario Public
Service Employees Union (OPSEU) will launch a province-wide radio
ad campaign tomorrow to remember workers who have been killed or
injured on the job and call for action on workplace health and
safety.
OPSEU's 30-second ad, which will air for one week on 67 stations
across the province, will mark the National Day of Mourning, held
every year on April 28.
OPSEU President Warren (Smokey)
Thomas noted that this year's Day of Mourning comes just
days before the 25th anniversary of the Westray mining
disaster in Nova Scotia that left
26 workers dead.
"The memory of Westray will never diminish," said Thomas. "It
serves as a powerful reminder that no worker should ever go to work
fearful that they may not return home alive."
Across Canada in 2015, 852
workers were killed on the job and more than 230,000 were injured,
according to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and
Safety.
"It's easy to say, 'One death is one too many,' but it's true,"
Thomas said. "The reality is that all workplace deaths and injuries
are preventable, but a lack of political will to tighten
enforcement of our existing health and safety laws, combined with
an uncaring attitude by too many employers, add up to deadly
workplaces."
Thomas noted that death and injury statistics fail to reflect
the number of workers who acquire job-related illnesses, which can
go undiagnosed for years or even decades.
Despite a growing workforce, the number of public health and
safety inspectors in Ontario has
remained fixed at about 370 since 2004, said Neil Martin, OPSEU co-chair of the
labour-management committee at the Ontario Ministry of Labour.
"More of our time is now spent investigating death and injuries
and less time is spent enforcing existing health and safety
regulations," Martin said. "We still have far too many unsafe
workplaces."
To hear the OPSEU radio ad, please click the icon.
SOURCE Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU)