Bermudians who have died or been injured in the workplace were honoured yesterday at a ceremony dedicated to safety at work.

Bermuda observed World Day for Safety and Health at Work and International Commemoration for Dead and Injured Workers at an event at City Hall with a programme presented by the Ministry of Health. There have been 17 workplace fatalities in Bermuda since 1982.

Those who have died include Calvin Minors, Percy Iris, Ronald Skinner, Lucien Belley, Robert Arnold, Raymond Lambert, Antoine Burgess, Melbourne Grant, Teddy Sewell, John Caesar, Colin Thomas, Raymond Young, Hewitt Tucker, Malik Blyden, Andrea Bacarie, Joseph Pacheco, John Vital, Donahue Sousa and Jonathan Willis.

Minister of Health Walter Roban said: "We each have a responsibility towards the prevention of accidents on the job site. Unless we have universal reporting and investigation of accidents, the necessary learning and prevention will not occur. In some cases, injured employees will suffer injustices."

Armell Thomas, of the Bermuda Public Service Union, said: "If there is one thing that we must agree on, it is occupational health and safety. The union is very diligent when it comes to our members working in unsafe conditions.

"We want to continue to work with the Government as a partner to ensure that our membership works in a safe and healthy environment, our shop stewards are skilled to identify these concerns."

George Scott, of the Bermuda Industrial Union, said: "Any death or injury in any workplace is one too many. The BIU represents a host of workers on the Island that do various work daily. We have the dock workers, vector control, construction workers and airport workers."

Martin Law, of the Bermuda Employers Council, said: "We will never be able to eliminate risks in the workplace but we must work to minimise that risk. What is needed is for Bermuda to develop and embrace a culture of safety in the workplace leading to minimising workplace risks."

Bermuda has observed the International Commemoration day for Dead and Injured Workers since 2003.