BOSTON – Mourners crowded in front of the Statehouse steps Thursday to push for workplace safety reforms and remember the 63 workers killed on the job in Massachusetts last year.

“Today is a solemn reminder that we have to push even harder,” said Rich Rogers, executive secretary-treasurer of the Greater Boston Labor Council.

After volunteers took turns reciting the names of workers who died on the job, mourners gently placed red carnations in front of a temporary memorial wall while a solitary bagpiper played “Amazing Grace.”

The names and pictures on the wall belonged to departed workers who plied their trades in dozens of occupations across many industries.

“What they had in common was more important, that their deaths were not freak accidents, that they were not because of human error, that they were not their fault, that they were caused by job hazards that are predictable, that are known and that there are proven strategies for preventing, and that employers and contractors did not do that,” said Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Occupational Safety and Health, the nonprofit organization that organized Thursday’s ceremony.

Against the backdrop of the Statehouse, Don Dumont described the pain his family has endured since his son Nick died in a Taunton construction accident last September.

“I’m devastated that he’s no longer here,” the father said. “I won’t be able to see him get married, have kids or just be with us. We’ll never feel that again.”

Nick Dumont, a Pawtucket, R.I., resident and an Iraq War veteran, had turned 24 shortly before his death.

While initial reports indicated human error contributed to the accident, Dumont and his attorney said subsequent investigations have revealed that wasn’t the case. Nick Dumont, they said, exercised all appropriate safety precautions while working at the Taunton construction site when a crane violated safety protocols and swung into the steel beam he was harnessed to.

“We cannot take the word of big business for how these incidents occur,” attorney Doug Sheff told the crowd. “We have to question, we have to investigate and we have to litigate.”

Nick Dumont’s death came just two weeks after another construction worker had died in Taunton.

Kevin Miranda, a 48-year-old employee for the Taunton-based Skyline Contracting and Roofing, died when an aerial lift tipped over as his company performed an inspection of a smokestack on the property of St. Mary’s School in August, 2015.

Fatal injuries in construction accounted for 18 Massachusetts deaths in 2015, more than any other industry, according to a report MassCOSH released Thursday.

Transportation-related accidents were the most common cause of death, contributing to fatal injuries in 23 worker deaths across all industries. Falls, slips and trips caused 18 fatal injuries, and violence was the cause of six workplace deaths.

David White discussed the loss of his son, Ricardo Oliveira of Woonsocket, R.I., who fell to his death at a Sutton construction site in January.

“He leaves behind a grieving mom, a dad, brothers, a sister,” White said. “Not only was he a good boy, he was an all around good guy. If you needed help, he was the first person people turned to for help.”

According to MassCOSH, eight Massachusetts firefighters died last year, including those who were killed by cancers and other illnesses related to work conditions.

Workers Memorial Day organizers called for more funding for the state Department of Labor Standards, an extension of federal occupational safety protections to all public employees in Massachusetts, wage theft prevention reforms and increased access to workers’ compensation benefits.

Rogers said it’s important to shed light on unsafe working conditions.

“My fondest hope is one of these years, I’ll come back here and I won’t have any names to read,” he said.

Workers killed in the greater Taunton area in 2015 and 2016:

* JAVON BROWN – 36

Cell phone store clerk, New Bedford, 01/22/2015

* ADAM FRANCO – 32

Firefighter, Fall River, 03/16/2015

BRUNO FERRARA SR. – 55

Construction company owner, Mansfield, 07/13/2015

* KEVIN MIRANDA – 48

Crane operator, Taunton, 08/17/2015

* NICHOLAS DUMONT – 24

Construction worker, Taunton, 09/04/2015

* DONALD DEPINA – 66

Taxi driver, New Bedford, 11/28/2015

* ALCIDES VEIGA – 43

Warehouse worker, Easton, 12/09/2015

* MICHAEL HASSETT – 62

Warehouse manager, Norton, 02/17/2016

SOURCE: MassCOSH

By Gerry Tuoti Newsbank Editor