Fallen Construction Workers Remembered at Annual Hardhat Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral

On Wednesday, hundreds of New York City building and construction trades workers gathered in hardhats for the annual Memorial Mass and Procession at St. Patrick's Cathedral honoring their fellow workers who have tragically died on the job over the past year.

Thirteen chairs were positioned above the pulpit steps, each displaying a white hardhat with the name of a lost construction worker, along with a red rose. Families of the deceased who were in attendance were invited to come up at the end of the Mass to collect the hardhat and rose in memory of their loved one. The Mass was led by Father Brian Jordan, chaplain to the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, who in his remarks emphasized that safety issues for New York City's immigrant workers are particularly dire. Click here to read more about the risks that New York's building and construction trades workers face every day in NYCOSH's annual construction fatality report, “Deadly Skyline: An Annual Report on Construction Fatalities in New York State."