Memorial day for workplace dead

Over 200 people a year are killed at work in the UK

Hundreds of people who die at work each year have been remembered in rallies and services across Britain.

Dozens of memorial services, marches and vigils were organised by trade unions and other organisations to mark International Workers' Memorial Day.

The unions are using the occasion to press for new corporate killing laws.

The government has drawn up a draft bill enabling firms to be found guilty of corporate manslaughter, but it has not yet passed into law.

Thursday's events, which included a memorial services at Ripon Cathedral and a rally in central London, are part of an international day of action.

The longer Government backs away from those changes the longer we will return to events like today Dave Joyce Communication Workers Union 'We miss him so much'

At the London rally, Dave Joyce of the Communication Workers Union urged the government to stop its "shilly shallying" and introduce new safety duties on managers and company directors.

"When all those who are responsible for workers' health and safety are truly held to account, there will be a significant improvement in the safety and occupational health of workers," he said.

"The longer Government backs away from those changes the longer we will return to events like today commemorating unacceptable numbers of deaths and injuries at work."

Work and Pensions Secretary Alan Johnson said he supported the memorial day.

"In Britain last year 235 workers were killed in their workplace and several thousands more died from occupational diseases," he said.

"Today is the opportunity not only to remember them but also to ensure that we do all we can to prevent workers dying as a result of their work."

Corporate manslaughter

The government has drawn up a draft bill enabling firms to be found guilty of corporate manslaughter, but it has not yet passed into law.

The unions are pressing for the law to be passed as soon as possible in the next parliament.

They also want clauses inserted in the law to make it possible to hold individual company directors responsible for failures in health and safety and working practices which lead to workplace deaths.

The law currently in force requires prosecutors to prove a single individual at the very top of a company is personally guilty of manslaughter before the company can be prosecuted.

'Preventable accidents'

The T&G union says 235 workers died at work in the UK in 2004 - an increase of 4% on 2003 - with 30,000 suffering major injuries.

HAVE YOUR SAY We are faced with many companies ignoring the common employee Leon Molway, Lake Zurich, USA Send us your comments

And the Amicus union estimates that five people a week die in the UK because of preventable workplace accidents.

A Labour Party spokesman said the party was committed to introducing an offence of corporate manslaughter in the next parliament and that draft legislation had already been drawn up.

Liberal Democrat home affairs advisor Tim Colbourne said his party had been calling for an offence of corporate killing for a long time and had been pushing the government to fulfil its commitment to bring in legislation.

He said: "The draft bill is pretty good but we would like to tighten it up on the possibility of civil fines for individual directors. At the moment there are just fines for the company as a whole."

The BBC News Website contacted the Conservative Party for a comment but did not receive a response.