This year is the first that the Government has recognised Workers’ Memorial Day as a National Memorial Day.
Solicitors at Irwin Mitchell’s Sheffield office attended the event organised by the Sheffield Trades Council. The event outside the Sheffield Town Hall was opened by the Lord Mayor who said, “It is right to remember the people who have died at work, and to remember and think about the families who have lost a loved one through their work”. Representatives from various trade unions spoke of the number of people each year who lose their life through accidents at work or illnesses arising from their working conditions.
We also heard from John Naylor, a volunteer with the Sheffield and Rotherham Asbestos Group who himself suffers from asbestosis. He had designed and made a beautiful plaque of a railway coach as a tribute to his former work colleagues at Cravens Ltd in Sheffield, a coach building firm where blue asbestos was extensively used to insulate the railway coaches. Many people have lost their lives through asbestos related cancers as a result of working at Cravens. The plaque which he made is pictured here, together with wreaths which were laid in memory of loved ones. John ended his speech referring to asbestos as the silent killer.