The Day of Mourning is an important day to many – especially our own staff, some of whom began a career in health and safety because they were affected by a workplace incident or death.

Moira Spooner is a service coordinator on our Case Management team out of Kamloops. Moira's family moved from Nelson to Prince Rupert when she was just a baby. Her father had secured a job at the local pulp mill there — a position he believed would allow him to provide a good life for his wife and two daughters. Instead, it was the job that would take his life just 18 months later. On July 4, 1969, Moira's father was killed at the age of 25, leaving behind his wife, Margaret, and two daughters, ages 6 and 3.

Sadly, workplace fatalities have touched Moira's family more than once. Her grandfather was killed in the mid '50s while working for a power company in Nelson, leaving her grandmother a widow with two young daughters. Her uncle was then killed while working for West Kootenay Power in the early 1970s.

It is through these tragedies that Moira first came to know WorkSafeBC.

Then, in 1986, she came to work here. She was newly out of college and applied for a job as a file clerk. She remembers sitting in the office thinking about the irony of working for the organization that supported so many members of her family — "the same organization that paid for my education; that provided me with a monthly orphan benefit cheque; and that provided my mom with a widow's pension."

Today, with 35 years under her belt in the Claims division, Moira credits her own life experiences for the empathy she has for the workers she helps on a daily basis. "As a service coordinator, each day I am presented with an opportunity to make someone's experience a little bit better. The choice is mine in how I react to my clients as they call with their questions and concerns," says Moira.

To this day, her own experiences shape how she communicates with her clients. "Sometimes, we don't have the answers and we can't make it better, but I've learned that patience and kindness go a long way. We do good work at WorkSafeBC helping injured workers and their families, and I'm proud to be a part of it.”

Take a moment on April 28 to remember

Join us in a moment of silence on April 28 at 10:30 a.m. to remember the 151 B.C. workers who died last year from a workplace injury or disease.

Watch our social media channels and dayofmourning.bc.ca for a video message from our partners to recognize the day, and those we have lost.

Moira Spooner (centre) with her sister and father in Prince Rupert, shortly before her father was killed in a workplace incident.