Families and colleagues of workers who lost their lives at work will gather at a rally in central London on the 28 April to mark International Workers’ Memorial Day.

In any given year, more people will lose their lives in the workplace than in wars. International Workers’ Memorial Day offers an important opportunity to mourn for the dead, but fight for the living, and will see campaigners, activists and families join together to highlight the risks facing workers across the globe and in the UK.

The London Hazards Campaign will be joined by families and colleagues from the trade union and labour movement to release black balloons representing workers who’ve been killed, and to lay wreaths in remembrance, at The Building Worker statue, Tower Hill at 10.30am.

The focus of the 2015 campaign is “removing hazardous substances from the workplace” – substances which put thousands of workers’ health and lives at risk every year from cancers, lung diseases, debilitating skin conditions and asthma.

The Health & Safety Executive’s (HSE) budgets have been cut by 38% under the Coalition government – something Thompsons Solicitors argues has put workers’ lives at risk.

Gerard Stilliard from campaigning law firm Thompsons Solicitors said: “We will be joining our trade union colleagues and the families of those who have lost loved ones in London this Workers’ Memorial Day to add our voice to the campaign for change.

“We see first-hand the devastating results of what happens when basic health and safety standards fall off the agenda and represent thousands of injured workers each year.

“The Coalition government has long-since nailed its colours to the mast on health and safety. Its changes to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act sent health and safety legislation in this country back to the Victorian age and it has been systematically chipping away at protections for workers ever since.”

For more information about this Workers’ Memorial Day event email the London Hazards Centre - mail@lhc.org.uk or call 0207 5275107