Memorial honors 48 work-related deaths in Iowa last year

DES MOINES – Family members of fallen workers gathered Wednesday with Gov. Chet Culver, state officials and union members for a memorial service honoring 48 people who died and scores of others injured on the job in Iowa last year.

Included among those remembered during the yearly Iowa Workers Memorial Day were Ed Thomas, 58, of Parkersburg, who died June 24 when he was shot multiple times by a former student in a school weight-lifting facility, and two active-duty soldiers – Master Sgt. Bruce Mundy and Sgt. 1

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Class Trent Bricker – who died in service to their country.

“It's a reality check to the realities of life,” Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro told more than 100 mourners who stood near 48 white crosses that signified each 2009 on-the-job death. The ceremony, which included the reading of all 48 names by state Labor Commissioner David Neil, was designed to honor ordinary people doing extraordinary things, Mauro said.

Ken Sagar, president of the Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, noted it “made headlines” when 21 workers recently died in a West Virginia mine disaster or when 11 workers died on an oil platform.

“But when one worker here or there passes away, it doesn't make headlines and there's something wrong with that. The loss of any individual worker is a tragedy, especially for that family.” Sagar said. “These are folks who went to work to make a living and gave their lives, and that's an unfortunate thing.”

Speakers noted that more state resources are going into inspectors, consultants and technicians whose job it is to help improve the health and safety at Iowa workplaces. However, they urged that a greater priority would be placed on measures that will reduce work-related deaths, injuries and disabilities.

Last year's 48 on-the-job deaths was down from the 2008 toll of 68 lives but was higher than the 39 deaths reported in 2005 and 44 deaths in 2006. Neil said 15 of last year's deaths were at work sites covered by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rules, compared to 29 in 2008.

“Worker's Memorial Day allows us to pay tribute to those individuals we lost this past year in workplace accidents, and it reminds us all that workplace safety must play a priority in our daily lives,” Neil said.

He noted that last year's work-related fatalities did not include “untold” numbers of Iowans who die annually from long-term effects of toxic exposures in the workplace.

On a daily average nationally, Sagar said 16 workers lose their lives as a result of workplace injuries and disease and at least another 11,200 are injured. “It's staggering the carnage on American workers that occurs in the course of a year and over the course of their work lives. We can do better than that,” he added.

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