SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – State and local leaders took time to honor and remembers workers killed while working on job sites.
Thursday was Workers Memorial Day — marked here with a ceremony outside Peoria City Hall.
Erik Kambarian — division manager of the Illinois’s OSHA office — says safety must be practiced on every job site, every day.
“Safety is not the absence of injuries or accidents,” said Kambarian. “You can’t simply say you’re safe just because nothing has happened. Safety is actually the presence of capacity or defenses, that when something happens, it fails safely, and protects workers.”
Kambarian says being safe isn’t just on workers — it’s also on management.
“Every worker deserves the right to work in a business or environment, or even a government, that provides a safe and healthy workplace,” said Kambarian. “When that doesn’t happen, it effects a multitude of people, and it’s a very long-lasting and impactful tragedy.”
Illinois OSHA has a free consultation service available for businesses with less than 250 employees.
Workers Memorial Day coincides with the anniversary in 1970 of legislation that formed OSHA.
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