Construction union UCATT have welcomed the announcement that the Government will formally recognise Workers Memorial Day, as an important step forward.

The announcement came on the same day that two construction workers in Scotland were killed within 12 hours of each other.

UCATT has long campaigned for Workers Memorial Day (28th April) to become a bank holiday.

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Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of UCATT, said: "The Government's decision to formally recognise Workers Memorial Day is an important first step in the campaign to establish Workers Memorial Day as a bank holiday, in order to ensure that all workers have an opportunity to remember their friends and colleagues who have been killed or injured at work."

In recent years there have been an increasing number of marches, rallies, commemorative ceremonies and workplace events to mark Workers Memorial Day.

The day is particularly important in the construction industry due to the high number of deaths and serious injuries that occur in the sector.

(CD/BMcC)