IOSH president Nattasha Freeman did her bit on Workers’ Memorial Day to remember those people who have lost their lives at work.
Nattasha was a guest speaker at a seminar at Bathgate Sports Centre, in West Lothian, where she spoke about asbestos-related disease — one of which, mesothelioma, now kills more people in Britain than anywhere else, according to a report from the Institute of Cancer Research and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
“In Great Britain alone, around 4000 people a year die as a result of past exposure to asbestos — that’s more deaths than are caused by road-traffic accidents,” said Nattasha.
“In 2009, we have an unwanted but very real double inheritance. First there’s the legacy of thousands of people who are potentially blighted by the effects of past exposure to asbestos, who fear they might have an asbestos time-bomb ticking inside them.
“Then there’s also the hidden legacy of thousands of tons of asbestos left in our buildings, requiring us to competently identify and assess it, manage and control it, and dispose of it safely,” she added.
She went on to point out that, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), one person in the world dies every 52 seconds from occupational cancer.
“Today we mourn those whose lives are taken away just through trying to earn a living. Many of those die needlessly in accidents, or through diseases, which we know how to prevent from happening,” she added.
Nattasha also penned a letter highlighting the day, which was published in The Guardian and a number of local newspapers. She wrote: “Last year, more than 335,000 workers died in workplaces around the world. Thousands of men, women and even children go to work and fail to return home to their families safe and sound at the end of the day.
“International Workers’ Memorial Day is an opportunity to remember all those who tragically lose their lives in the workplace every year. But it’s also an opportunity to get across to people the importance of health and safety in the workplace.”
International Workers’ Memorial Day was first observed in 1989. The theme of this year’s event was ‘Health and life at work — a basic human right’.
