By: Najla Alexander
Middlesex County officials announced that in recognition of Workers Memorial Day, the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners gathered with local dignitaries, representatives from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and leaders from organized labor at the construction site of the Health & Life Science Exchange (HELIX) on Paterson Street, New Brunswick on Monday, April 28.
The event honored and remembered workers who have lost their lives due to workplace hazards while also emphasizing the importance of having safe and healthy work conditions in workplaces, MCPO officials said. 
“Fifty-five years ago today, on April 28, 1970, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, or OSHA, went into effect. Since then, OSHA has fought to protect every worker’s fundamental right to safe working conditions,” said Middlesex County Commissioner Director Ronald G. Rios.
“In 2024, three workers in Middlesex County lost their lives in work-related incidents. Even one death is too many, and so we honor those individuals today, as well as all of the individuals who lost their lives in past years due to work-related injuries or illnesses.”
Speakers included Middlesex County Commissioner Director Ronald G. Rios; New Jersey Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin; Michael McLaughlin, Vice President of the Middlesex County Building and Construction Trade Council; Todd Vachon, President Middlesex County AFL-CIO Continuing Labor; and Patricia Jones, Area Director U.S. Department of Labor/OSHA, Avenel Area Office.
Middlesex County officials stated that it's held annually on April 28; Workers Memorial Day was established nationally in 1989 in honor of the date the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 went into effect.
