Workers’ memorial draws level 3 group
A lawful gathering of fewer than 10 people has marked Workers’ Memorial Day in Palmerston North amid heightened awareness of the importance of workplace safety.
The international day has become an annual civic ceremony at Fitzroy St overlooking Memorial Park.
But yesterday former Public Service Association organiser John Shennan and a handful of others paid their respects at a spread-out gathering allowed just hours after themove to Covid-19 alert level three.
They lit a candle in honour of those who had lost their lives or become ill at work.
Shennan said this year, around the world, many thousands of workers in healthcare and on cruise ships had become ill or died because of Covid-19.
‘‘There is also a lot of debate about health and safety issues like access to protective equipment, and the number of job losses and hardship for families.’’
This year’s event also marked 25 years since the Cave Creek disaster, in which 14 people died when a viewing platform collapsed in the South Island.
The Council of Trade Unions mourned the loss of another 100 New Zealanders killed in workplaces in the past 12 months.
CTU president Richard Wagstaff said it was 100 deaths too many, and pointed to the need for everybody to take responsibility for better health and safety practices. ‘‘It is a sombre reflection that today we also open upmany workplaces under Covid-19 level three, and the health and safety of working people is on everyone’s mind." The international theme of Workers’memorial Day was ‘‘stop the pandemic at work’’.
‘‘We know that internationally there have been thousands of working people exposed,’’ Wagstaff said. ‘‘In New Zealand, we are proud that our ‘go hard, go early’ lockdown has prevented any workplace exposure deaths from Covid-19.
‘‘We should be taking the same attitude to all health and safety risks at work.’’
The CTU would be surveying members who went back to work yesterday about whether the recommended 10 checks for a safe return to work were being followed.
Alert level three was no return to business as usual for health and safety, he said.
‘‘Let the level three reopening be the reset button we need to treat every workplace risk with the same level of caution we will for Covid-19. There is no reason any Kiwi should be killed at work,’’ Wagstaff said.