High School students across the province are marking the 30th anniversary of the Westray coal mining disaster with a virtual education session on Zoom about workplace safety.
Students aged 15 and up were invited to tune in to a Zoom call with workplace safety leaders to learn about the disaster and understand their own rights as they enter the workforce.
“There were serious health and safety concerns and infractions taking place in [the Westray mine]. Workers were terrified for their lives,” said Sylvia Boyce, health and safety coordinator with the United Steelworkers Union.
On May 9, 1992, 26 coal miners in Plymouth, NS lost their lives as an early-morning methane and coal dust explosion ripped through the coal mine, killing everyone inside. Eleven of the workers bodies were never recovered.
The disaster eventually led to the creation of what’s known as the Westray Law in 2004. The law amended the Criminal Code of Canada to hold corporations criminally accountable for preventable death and injury on the job.
“It’s so important that you exercise your three rights: your right to know; your right to participate; your right to refuse,” Boyce said when addressing students.
The virtual education session is the first of several events happening in New Glasgow to mark the day. It’s being followed by a roundtable discussion at 2 p.m. about Westray’s impact on occupational health and safety. It’ll feature voices from the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour, the United Steelworkers Union, the Workers Compensation Board and provincial government representative, as well as family members of those who died in the mine.
A march in honour of those who lost their lives will take place at 6 p.m. in New Glasgow, followed by a memorial service and celebration of life at 6:30 p.m. at Westray Memorial Park.
