Honoring Fallen Workers During a Pandemic

On April 28, MassCOSH held its first-ever virtual Workers’ Memorial Day Commemoration for an online crowd of over 250 viewers. Our most powerful, emotional event of the year proved to be equally impactful online and was the least we could do to honor the 69 workers in Massachusetts who lost their lives on the job in 2019 due to occupational injury and illness.  
The memorial allowed us to show the pictures of treasured family members and coworkers while MassCOSH Board member Elissa Cadillic read the names of those that went to work in 2019, never to return. Reverend Mariam-White Hammond opened the event and speakers included MA AFL-CIO President Steven Tolman and Greater Boston Labor Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer Darlene Lombos.

We were honored to have Liz Pawlowski speak to represent the families who lost loved ones. Liz shared fond memories of her cousin, Anthony Costa Jr., 41, of Taunton, who died of injuries sustained at a MIT construction site in February 2019. MassCOSH also took a moment during the commemoration to remember the thousands of workers who have become sick with COVID-19 resulting from workplace exposure, and the workers who passed away due to the virus. If you missed the event, you can still view the recording on our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/Masscosh/videos/1511216915717462/.