The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA) and Oregon AFL-CIO invite the public to attend the Workers Memorial Day observance on Monday, April 28, in Salem. The ceremony will recognize, remember, and honor those who died of work-related injuries and illnesses in 2024.
The event will take place at 12:30 p.m. at the Fallen Worker Memorial outside the Labor and Industries Building, 350 Winter St. NE, on the Capitol Mall. The memorial service, coordinated by Oregon AFL-CIO, will feature remarks from union leaders, safety and health advocates, elected officials, and faith leaders.
“Every day, people across Oregon go to work to provide for themselves and their families, to help their fellow Oregonians and make the state a thriving place to live,” Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said. “Today, we honor the Oregonians whose lives were tragically lost doing their job and offer our deepest condolences to their families. Today, we recommit to our efforts to make working conditions safer and protect workers across the state.”
During the ceremony, the names of Oregon workers who died on the job in 2024 will be read aloud. The event will include a reading of Gov. Kotek’s proclamation, and remarks by Oregon OSHA Administrator Renée Stapleton and Oregon AFL-CIO President Graham Trainor.
Oregon workplaces are safer and healthier today than in previous decades. Yet, there are still far too many preventable on-the-job deaths each year.
“Job safety laws remain far too weak, allowing employers to endanger employees often without repercussion,” Trainor said. “Oregon’s unions will always stand up against any attack on the safety and health of working people. On this solemn day, we honor the workers who did not make it home and demand increased safety, more severe consequences for safety violators, and dignity at work.”
Through a partnership of government, labor, and business working together to improve workplace safety and health, Oregon’s fatality and injury and illness rates have steadily declined for decades.
Nevertheless, the annual Workers Memorial Day observance serves as a reminder to renew our call to protect workers from on-the-job hazards. Under the Oregon Safe Employment Act, employers must maintain safe and healthy workplaces, and workers have a right to safe and healthy working conditions.
“Workers Memorial Day is not just a day of remembrance,” Stapleton said. “It is a day to renew our call to action. It is a day to revitalize our commitment to our mission: to create safe and healthy workplaces, where the risk of death is eliminated and where every worker returns home at the end of their shift, safe and sound.”
The annual Workers Memorial Day serves as a nationwide day of remembrance. The observance is traditionally held on April 28 because the U.S. Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act on that date in 1970.
Oregon OSHA encourages employers and workers to use free workplace safety and health resources. Those resources include:
Oregon OSHA
- Rights and responsibilities
- Protect against retaliation
- Consultation services
- Technical services
- Keeping employees safe
- Education and training
DCBS Multicultural Communications Program
- Providing outreach to communities with limited English proficiency
Ombuds Office for Oregon Workers
- Independent advocate for Oregon workers, including guidance on workers’ rights and responsibilities in workers’ compensation and workplace safety and health
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About Oregon OSHA: Oregon OSHA enforces the state’s workplace safety and health rules and works to improve workplace safety and health for all Oregon workers. The division is part of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, Oregon’s largest consumer protection and business regulatory agency. Visit osha.oregon.gov and dcbs.oregon.gov.
About Oregon AFL-CIO: Oregon AFL-CIO is the statewide federation of affiliated unions, representing more than 300,000 working Oregonians. Visit https://www.oraflcio.org/.
