Fallen West Virginia workers remembered in annual memorial ceremony

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Simply greater than a dozen employees who died on the job in 2021 in West Virginia had been remembered on Thursday.

The West Virginia AFL-CIO and the Kanawha Valley Labor Council held their thirty fourth Annual Employees Memorial Ceremony on the state Capitol.

“I don’t know that it’ll ever occur however it could be my hope that in the future, one yr down the street, with regards to April 28 that we don’t must have this occasion as a result of there gained’t be a single title to learn,” Josh Sword, West Virginia AFL-CIO President stated through the ceremony.

The occasion included audio system comparable to Sword, Elaine Harris West Virginia AFL-CIO and state Sen. Mike Caputo (D-Marion), UMWA District 31 president.

Sword stated there have to be a name for motion to make workplaces safer.

“We’d like to verify we do extra with OSHA, MSHA, or another federal to state company to verify our employees are within the most secure potential surroundings.”

Throughout 202115 employees had been killed in work-related incidents.

Every of the names was learn and a bell tolled of their reminiscence as a part of the ceremony. Two of the 15 had been correctional officers who died of COVID 19.

These victims had been (date of dying and employer included):

1/2/2021: Mark Rustemeyer of Sissonville – WV Dept. of Corrections St. Marys Middle

1/16/2021: Angel McCaley of Charleston – Sweetbriar Assisted Dwelling, LLC

2/13/2021: Delmar Dean of Weirton – Northern Regional Jail

2/21/2021: Justin Lafferty of Man – Aracoma Coal Firm, LLC

3/3/2021: Daniel Wolfe of Bruceton Mills – Grant County Mulch Inc

3/5/2021: Willie Phillips of Lesage – Donahue Brothers Inc

4/28/2021: James Simpkins of Delbarton – S&S Recycling Inc

6/2/2021: Trenten Dille of Littleton – ACNR Sources, Inc

6/3/2021: Nicholas Adkins of Racine – Alpha Metallurgical Sources Inc

8/5/2021: Jeffrey Hudnall of Dorothy – Blue Gold Mine Providers, LLC

8/11/2021: Timothy Collins of Mill Creek – HWM Truck Strains Inc

10/3/2021: David Burchard of Harrisville – West Virginia United Well being System Inc

10/16/2021: Christopher Spicer of Grafton – Fedex Freight Inc

11/2/2021: Steven Gitlin of Moundsville – West Virginia Supreme Court docket of Appeals

11/5/2021: Jeremiah Borsman of Fayetteville – Customized View Contracting LLC

“Office fatalities don’t discriminate. They don’t care should you’re white or black, male or feminine, they don’t care should you’re a Democrat or a Republican. The end result is all the time the identical,” Caputo stated.