Workers who have been killed, injured or made ill by their work in the last year have been commemorated in Newcastle.
The annual International Workers Memorial Day is an occasion to mourn those who have lost their lives but also to commit to ensuring work places remain safe.
An average of 180 Australian workers are killed at work every year. That figure increased to 195 in 2022.
"The numbers and experience of families, work mates and our communities don't lie," Hunter Workers Secretary Leigh Shears said at the service, which was held at the Foreshore Park Workers Memorial Stone.
"The rate of death and serious injury in workplaces continues to be of significant concern deserving a greater focus to turn these incident numbers around. No worker should go to work not knowing if they will return home".
Over the past ten years to December 2023 1,850 workers were killed on the job with over 1,140,000 serious workers compensation made.
As of March 23 this year 23 workers have been killed at work in Australia.
"The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union has long campaigned for safer workplaces," AMWU Newcastle lead organiser Tim Ferguson said.
"On International Workers Memorial Day, a day where we stop and pause to mourn those who didn't make it home from work, or workers who perished years after being exposed to toxic environments at their workplaces, through cancer or other illnesses, we also refocus on the fight that remains ahead of us as the working class."
The Asbestos Diseases Foundation of Australia will be hosting an Asbestos and Silicosis Summit on Monday 29 April at Souths Leagues Club between 10am and 2pm as part of this year's International Workers Memorial Day.
