April 28 Is Internationally Recognised As Workers’ Memorial Day To Remember Those Killed Through Work

The family of a workplace illness victim are joining forces with leading lawyers at Irwin Mitchell’s Birmingham office to call for more awareness of workplace safety on International Workers’ Memorial Day as they continue to fight for justice for those who lost their life due to working conditions.

Workers’ Memorial Day is a day to ‘remember the dead and to fight for the living’ by paying respects to those who have died as a result of their employment, continuing to improve health and safety standards in the workplace, and increase protection in place for employees.

Representatives from Irwin Mitchell’s offices around the country are supporting a series of Workers’ Memorial Day Events, including in Birmingham where the firm acts for families who sadly lost loved ones due to workplace illnesses, including the family of Walter Patton, former clay dryer.

His son Brian, 62, instructed expert industrial disease lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate how and where his father was exposed to high-quantities of dust that contributed to his respiratory conditions and lung cancer.

An inquest into the death of Walter, 83, found that he died in February 2013 of bronchial pneumonia, pulmonary fibrosis and lung cancer related to his employment.

Brian said: “Dad was always a very private man and he didn’t tell me about his illness until a few weeks before his death.

“It is absolutely heart-breaking to know that my Dad died from an industrial disease caused by simply going to work every day to provide for his family. I remember visiting him at work and seeing him shovelling dust without wearing any protection.”

Unfortunately Walter’s case is not a one-off as the latest figures released by the Health and Safety Executive show that 1.3 million working people are suffering from a work-related illness in Great Britain.

Satinder Bains, a Partner and expert industrial disease lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said: 

Expert Opinion

"Thousands of people still die each year in the UK as a direct result of being made to work in unsafe conditions. Health and safety has come a long way in recent years but the figures show there is still much to do.

“Sometimes they are the victims of tragic but avoidable accidents, or, as with many of our clients, they were exposed to asbestos or other harmful substances by their employers many years ago and have, in most cases, been made to suffer terribly as a result.” Satinder Bains - Partner