The “Day of Mourning” is a day intended to recognize those who lost their lives as a result of a work-related incident or occupational diseases.
Day of Mourning ceremonies have been held across the country ever since the Canadian Labour Congress initiated a national Day of Mourning ceremony on April 28, 1984 and is now recognized annually around the world in more than 100 countries.
April 28th was chosen because it was on this date in 1914 that the first Workers’ Compensation Act was brought into effect in Canada.
This year's ceremonies held April 28th to commemorate workers.
Note: Additional information, as well as additional resources such as ordering posters and crew talks are available on WorksafeBC's Day of Mourning page or at the bottom of this page.
In 2019 there were 140 work related fatalities in BC. Five were directly related to forestry operations. One was associated with a forest products manufacturing facility.
Deaths from workplace injury average nearly a thousand per year in Canada.
There are approximately one million workplace injuries a year in Canada
A compensable injury occurs every seven seconds of each working day.
How to use this tool
- Day of Mourning resources can be used to help inform workers of workplace injuries and fatalities.
Recommended delivery
- The powerpoint presentation may be used during a company safety meeting
- The crew talk provides information to share with workers during a tailgate meeting
- The additional resources can provide further information for planning activities or acknowledging workplace fatalities.
Suggested practices
- Safety Bulletins/Alerts – You may wish to produce a Safety Alert or Bulletin for your company to recognize workers seriously hurt or killed performing a duty similar to those of your workers. Include your company’s safe work procedures, emergency response procedures or encourage workers to get involved in company safety efforts through reporting or Joint Health & Safety Committee initiatives.
- Crew Talks/Safety Meetings – Providing an overview of forestry fatalities during crew talks can help to remind workers of the potential hazards they face on the job and may start the conversation of additional efforts the company or crew might wish to pursue in reducing injuries and fatalities.
- Plan a Safety Stand down – A safety stand down is a coordinated effort across the crew or company where work is paused to address either a specific safety concern or general safety awareness. Safety Stand Downs can be brief (ie: Radio your workers to shut down equipment/work for a moment to acknowledge a minute of silence followed by a few words from the owner or supervisor re-affirming the company’s commitment to making safety a priority) or they can be more involved (Plan drills or training in conjunction with Joint Health & Safety Committee initiatives or a meeting with the owners/managers to discuss safety concerns).
- Safety Management System (SMS) development – A company may wish to review the circumstances surrounding the fatalities and assess how their system may have responded. For example, in an incident where communication was an issue a company may wish to check the functioning of all communication devices, confirm phone numbers in the ERP are accurate, plan a drill to test worker responses, check training records for expiry dates and ask workers if they could see potential improvements for the company SMS.
Related files
Click on the links below to download the files and documents
