Workers Memorial Day Observance  Honors Those Who Lost Their Lives on the Job 

Annual Event Serves as Workplace Safety Reminder 

TRENTON – The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the New Jersey State Industrial Safety Committee will co-sponsor “Lest We Forget,” a tribute to workers who died on the job last year, during a joint Workers Memorial Day observance on Wednesday, April 28. 

Workers Memorial Day is observed around the world to honor workers who died or were gravely injured while at work, and serves as a reminder of the importance of workplace safety. In New Jersey, an estimated 37 public- and private-sector workers lost their lives on the job in 2019 and 2020. That does not include hundreds more who died of COVID-19, whose exposures may have happened on the job. 

“This past year has been especially challenging for workers around the world – whether at home or at a work site – who have had the once-in-a-lifetime trial of working during a pandemic. While Covid-19 has been the primary threat, workers run the risk of other workplace accidents and injuries. To that end, our Division of Public Safety and Occupational Safety and Health (PEOSH) has remained selflessly committed to enforcing the laws and regulations that provide for safe working conditions, striving for a goal of zero lives lost on the job,” said Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo. 

The commissioner, who will speak during Wednesday’s virtual ceremony, will be joined on the dais by Dhruti Thaker, Chair of the Industrial Safety Committee, and Patricia Jones, area director of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).  

Members of the media who would like to attend the ceremony, which starts at 10:30 am on Wednesday, April 28, should email media@dol.nj.gov for the Teams link. 

Among those who will be remembered at the event are Jersey City police detective Joseph Seals, who was shot by a suspect and died of his injuries; Harris Chin, a contract employee of the Department of Community Affairs, who fell down a flight of stairs and sustained fatal trauma to his head while performing a compliance inspection; and Cinnaminson Public Works employee Collin Dill, who sustained fatal injuries after the tractor mower on which he was riding rolled over on an embankment and into a pond.  

These dedicated public servants and the others who died while at work will be remembered for their work and sacrifice in a moment of silence during the ceremony.