Mick Holder adds: The CSC are looking for people to help them leaflet construction sites on the south side of the Thames this Wednesday in advance of Workers Memorial Day. They are gathering at Southwark station at 7am. Please contact Tony O'Brien on 077 477 95954 construction.safetycampaign@canhe.fsnet.co.uk

The Construction Safety Campaign (CSC) has organised the events below to mark Workers Memorial Day (WMD) 2006.

9am - 10am Protest against Canada’s global trade in death - the killer asbestos. Canada House, Pall Mall East, Trafalgar Square.

10. 30am assemble for protest march to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) HQ to protest against de-regulation of UK safety laws, especially asbestos. Gather at Holland St by the side of Tate Modern, SE1.

11. 00am protest march to HSE, Rose Court, Southwark Bridge Road, SE1.

11. 30am protest outside HSE. 12. 15pm rally at GLA, south side of Tower Bridge, SE1.

Workers Memorial Day is held every April 28th to remember those injured, made unwell, disabled and killed by their work. The slogan for the day is “Remember the dead and fight for the living“. The Construction Safety Campaign (CSC) will be protesting about the UK government’s moves to weaken workplace safety laws, especially the weakening of controls on the killer dust asbestos. We will also be protesting about the UK government’s weakening of our safety police’s enforcement regime to a more “business friendly“ model. The CSC will hold a protest outside the GLA calling for unsafe firms to be thrown off the Olympic site construction project. The CSC will also protest against the Canadian government’s backing of their domestic asbestos industry which sells death around the globe.

Every year in the UK the construction industry kills approximately 70 people in so called accidents. Over 200 people lose their lives in workplace incidents. This figure rises to 1, 500 if the number of people killed on the roads while they are at work is included. Another 10-20, 000 people die from work related diseases, with 5, 000 of those related to asbestos exposure. The government estimates the cost of workplace accidents, ill health and disease to the UK could be higher than £30 billion every year.

According to the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) as many as 5, 000 people die every day as a result of work-related accidents or illness. The UN body said the global death toll from work-related incidents and disease was an estimated 2. 2 million a year, 10 per cent higher than three years ago.

Both the UK government and the ILO say that the greater majority of this is predictable and preventable.

REMEMBER THE DEAD - FIGHT FOR THE LIVING !

Contact:

Tony O’Brien, National Secretary CSC. 077 477 95954
construction.safetycampaign@canhe.fsnet.co.uk

For more information about Workers Memorial Day and events occurring around the globe go to www.hazards.org/wmd/index.htm