Food for thought

The death of a welder in Toronto when a roof he was working on collapsed, highlighted two things. One, unlike the death of a policeman or fire-fighter, he will not get a public parade with workers from around North America in attendance (the jingoism factor); two, the number of worker deaths – in 2012 seventy- three in Ontario alone from accidents and 367 including those succumbing to occupational diseases acquired on the job. In fact, in a recent list of the most dangerous jobs, the top 10 was dominated by, not surprisingly, blue collar jobs such as construction, farming, electrical, trucking, refuse collecting, roofing, logging, and fishing. Police and fire-fighters did not figure in the top 10. Police and fire-fighters are workers too and we do not begrudge them due respect for performing the dangerous aspects of their jobs, but it is obvious that work place deaths and injuries are kept below the radar for obvious reasons. John Ayers.