I'm John Ryan for KUOW News. If today is a typical day, a dozen Americans will be killed on the job. About 9,000 workers will be injured.
Last year, one workplace accident in Washington made national news. It killed seven people.
Bloomberg News Anchor: "We want to update you once again on that explosion at a Tesoro refinery in Anacortes, Washington."
But most people who die on the job get much less attention.
Governor Chris Gregoire presided over a memorial ceremony this spring. It individually honored all 92 Washingtonians who didn't make it home from work last year.
To wrap up our "Danger At Work" series, here's an audio postcard from that ceremony.
TRANSCRIPT
Announcer: "Daniel J. Aldridge [bell tolls]. Alejandro Alvarez, Jr. [bell tolls]. Clifford W. Apley [bell tolls]."Diana Ryland: "Cliff Apley, he's my brother, a cedar mill worker that died last May down in Elma. I'm Diana Ryland. I'm from Olympia. Cliff, he was working on a D–4 Caterpillar, and he was ejected from the seat and he was run over by the Caterpillar. It was exactly one month away from his 50th birthday. He has three daughters, six grandkids and a mother and father.
"His employer hadn't gone over the safety precautions that my brother should have used. It was just a terrible accident. No one was directly at fault, but now he's gone, and you can't bring him back."
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