Missouri Workers' Memorial Day at the state Capitol
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Missouri Workers' Memorial Day at the state Capitol

Date: April 23, 2012
By: Mark Hodges
State Capitol Bureau

Intro: 
Construction, transportation and farming accidents are some of the biggest causes of workplace fatalities in Missouri. Families and friends gathered at the Capitol to remember those they lost.
RunTime:  0:41
OutCue:  SOC

Wrap: ((NATS: BAGPIPES))

I'm in the Capitol rotunda where the sound of bagpipes honored Missouri's fallen workers.

Christopher Lucas was just one of more than one hundred Missourians who died on the job last year.

His mother Pamela Prayter remembers his act of heroism during the Joplin tornado.

Actuality:  PRAYTER.WAV
Run Time:  00:21
Description: "He was at work that night, he was getting everybody into the coolers. Because of the way the cooler was, there was no way to lock it from the inside. He got a bungee cord and wrapped it around his arm. And when it popped that door, it took Chris with him."

Reporting from the state Capitol, I'm Mark Hodges.

Intro: 
Families and friends gathered at the Capitol to remember those they lost to workplace fatalities. Construction, transportation and farming accidents are some of the leading causes in Missouri.
RunTime:  0:42
OutCue:  SOC

Wrap: ((NATS: SINGING))

I'm in the Capitol rotunda where America the Beautiful echoed to honor Missouri's fallen workers.

More than one hundred Missourians died on the job last year.

But Labor Department Director Larry Rebman says those numbers are much better than they used to be.

Actuality:  REBMAN.WAV
Run Time:  00:18
Description: "In 1970 when OSHA was created, there were 13,850 fatalities in the United States. Since 1970, our workforce has doubled. But despite that growth, today there are 1/3 less fatalities than in 1970."

Some workers honored at the Capitol died saving lives in the Joplin tornado last May.

Reporting from the state Capitol, I'm Mark Hodges.