Victims of Workplace Tragedy Remembered at Threads of Life 5K Walk

    Over 2000 Family Members Across Canada Walk To Raise Awareness for
    Workplace Tragedy

    TORONTO, May 1 /CNW/ - On Sunday, May 3rd, two thousand family members
and friends across Canada who have been impacted by a workplace tragedy, along
with injury prevention organizations, gathered to participate in the Steps for
Life-Walking for Victims of Workplace Tragedy event today at 14 locations
across the country.
    "Families who have been impacted by workplace tragedy do not want any
other individual to suffer the same pain and suffering. This is why we walk-
to raise much needed community awareness. We believe that workplace injuries
and illnesses are preventable." Says Shirley Hickman, Executive Director of
Threads of Life and mother of Tim Hickman, a young worker killed as a result
of a workplace explosion in 1996.
    Every working day in Canada over three people are killed in the
workplace. Each year, tens of thousands of Canadians are injured seriously
enough to miss work. Threads of Life believes that injuries, illnesses and
fatalities in the workplace are morally, socially and economically
unacceptable.
    This event kicked-off the North American Occupational Safety and Health
(NAOSH) Week on May 3-9, 2009. It consisted of a 5K walk, along with
children's activities and a family barbeque.
    'Marathon' sponsors include the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance
Board (WSIB) and Vale Inco. Altogether, fourteen Steps for Life events will be
simultaneously coordinated in Antigonish NS, Corner Brook NFLD, Halifax NS,
Hamilton ON, Ottawa ON, Lethbridge AB, London ON, Okotoks AB, Sault Ste. Marie
ON, Simcoe County ON, Sudbury ON, Toronto ON, Thunder Bay ON and Winnipeg MB.
Proceeds support families of workplace tragedy with Threads of Life Family
Support programs and services.
    Steps for Life was formerly known as the Threads of Life 5K Run/Walk,
created six years ago with co-founding partner IAPA (Industrial Accident
Prevention Association). Steps for Life participants include families,
friends, co-workers, health and safety professionals, supervisors, and senior
management.
    Threads of Life is a national charitable organization dedicated to
supporting families along their journey of healing who have suffered from a
workplace fatality, life-altering workplace injury or occupational disease.
Threads of Life provides families with one-on-one peer support, links to
community resources and opportunities to promote workplace injury prevention
at the grassroots level. Threads of Life currently supports over 1,100
families from across the country.

For further information: Siân Gibson, Threads of Life Partnerships &
Communications Program Manager, Tel: (905) 655-9188, Cell: (647) 222-9188,
sgibson@threadsoflife.ca, www.stepsforlife.ca, www.threadsoflife.ca