SAFETY FOCUS
Fighting for hearts and minds
Louise Taggart lost her brother Michael when he was electrocuted at work in 2005. Since the tragedy, she has campaigned for the safest possible working environment. Here, she explains why she’s asking everyone to support this year’s International Workers’ Memorial Day
D
o you mark International Workers’ Memorial Day (IWMD)? I won’t be surprised if you say “No”, then look quizzically and ask: “What’s that then?”
Because, before my wee brother Michael Adamson, an electrician, died in a fatal electrocution at work, I’d never heard of IWMD, let alone marked it. You see, it’s a day when those who have lost loved ones in work-related
incidents or due to work-related illness join together with others, to remember our dead and renew our commitment to fi ght for the living. It takes place annually on 28 April and is now a fi rm fi xture in my family’s calendar. In 2019, denied the opportunity to celebrate what should have been Michael’s 40th birthday year, we encouraged organisations who hadn’t done so in the past, to fi nd a way to commemorate IWMD in their
IWMD memorial stone outside Clackmannanshire Council HQ
workplace or community. And now, a year on, I’m asking you to do just that again.
Remember the dead It is appalling and unacceptable that an average of six people still die each and every year as a result of contact with electricity or electrical discharge. And you will not have far to look to fi nd out about electricians who have died as a result of asbestos-related illnesses, for example, or who have taken their own lives as a result of work-related suicide. While I am sure, like my wee brother,
your own lost colleagues, friends or family are never far away from your thoughts, I would ask you to fi nd a way to remember them on 28 April. Be that by holding a minute’s silence on any larger sites, seeking to light up premises purple or lowering any on-site fl ags to half-mast. Purple forget-me-knot ribbons are the
IWMD ceremony in Manchester last year
36 CABLEtalk APRIL/MAY 2020
symbol of IWMD. These could simply be purchased to be worn in the week before and on the day itself. Or you could go a step further and make them available in exchange for a donation to a health and safety charity, such as
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