Workplace Health and Safety Queensland used Workers’ Memorial Day and World Day for Safety and Health at Work on 28 April to urge both employers and employees to keep current workers healthy and safe.
People from all walks of life gathered at a Brisbane breakfast to remember family members, friends and colleagues who had lost their lives due to a work-related incident.
Minister for Industrial Relations, Grace Grace said Workers’ Memorial Day offered the chance to reflect on lives tragically lost at work and what could be done to prevent this in the future.
“It’s a time to reflect and reaffirm that their premature and often preventable deaths haven’t been in vain,” Ms Grace said.
“Sadly, in the 12 months to the end of February this year, 24 people died in Queensland doing their normal work duties. Another eight bystanders lost their lives in a workplace setting.”
She said the work of the Consultative Committee for Work-Related Fatalities and Serious Incidents — or Affected Persons Committee as it was known — ensured Government, industry and Queensland communities learnt from the experiences of people and families who had to deal with work-related tragedies.
“The committee provides advice to us on what families need in order to make the process as bearable as possible and are supported as they navigate the complexities of investigations and coronial inquests,” Ms Grace said.
“This has led to the Government funding a legal coronial assistance service which gives families access to free legal advice throughout the coronial process and a free grief and trauma counselling service for those who may benefit from therapeutic support.”
