Missoula marks Workers Memorial Day; officials outline new Montana Safety Culture Act taking effect May 1

Missoula County officials proclaimed April 28, 1994, as Workers Memorial Day and local labor and safety officials used the observance to outline the new Montana Safety Culture Act, which the speakers said goes into effect May 1.

The proclamation — presented as part of an event organized by the Missoula Trades and Labor Council and the AFL-CIO — was introduced for approval by a member of the Missoula County Board of County Commissioners. Local speakers said the law aims to reduce workplace injuries and fatalities by encouraging joint employer–employee safety programs and clearer reporting requirements.

Vicki Cocherello, customer service manager for the Montana State Compensation Insurance Fund, described the law’s core aims and requirements. “The Safety Culture Act is just what it says, trying to create and set up an atmosphere where people in the workplace and employers are committed to sending workers home at the end of a shift, in as good a shape as they came in or even better,” Cocherello said. She said the law requires employers to provide job‑specific safety orientation for new hires, to involve employees in designing workplace safety programs, and to perform routine self‑inspections.

Cocherello said the rules include additional reporting for businesses with more than five employees and noted an enforcement incentive: under the system described during the event, employers who do not participate in the program could see workers’ compensation premiums increase by about 20 percent. She also said the law includes a commitment to teach workplace safety in schools.

John Miller, with the International Association of Firefighters Local 2457 and the Missoula Rural Fire Department, spoke at the observance and offered a short benediction and remarks to families affected by workplace fatalities and injuries. Miller urged workers and families to seek available emotional and community support after workplace tragedies.

Organizers cited national figures — presented at the event by local labor representatives and the AFL‑CIO — that approximately 10,000 workers are killed each year in the United States, about 6,000,000 are injured or made ill on the job, and annual costs to employers are estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars; the figure cited at the event was $155,000,000,000. Speakers framed the Safety Culture Act as a step to reduce that toll in Montana; one speaker compared possible savings to an Oregon law that, according to the remarks, saved roughly $1 billion a year.

Cocherello advised employers who had not yet prepared for the rules to contact their workers’ compensation insurance providers to learn how to comply once the program’s rules take effect May 1. Event organizers also noted that the Missoula Trades and Labor Council planned a Workers Memorial Day program to air on Missoula Community Access Television on the evening of April 28.

The event included a written statement from U.S. Sen. Max Baucus read during the program; the statement emphasized unions’ historical role in Montana and urged stronger worker protections. The Missoula County Board member who introduced the proclamation moved that the board approve and adopt the document during the meeting record. The transcript records the motion to adopt the proclamation; the recording does not include a vote tally or the board’s recorded final action in the provided excerpt.