Flowers and wreaths were laid as part of a memorial day rally to remember people killed or injured at work.

A minute’s silence was observed as Bradford’s City Hall clock struck noon today and trade unionists, families and friends paid their respects.

Carol Duerden, of Bradford’s Workers Health Advice Team, told those gathered at the memorial plaque next to City Hall it was a day to remember the dead, but tomorrow, she said, “we must continue to fight like hell for the living”.

She said the Government was to cut funding to the Health and Safety Executive by more than a third over the next three years.

“We are told that modern work doesn’t harm many people and that our health and safety is a burden on business, costs employers far too much and is stopping jobs being cut,” she said. “It is all lies and it is time for action.”

She said last year, according to the HSE, there were 171 work- related fatalities, but more than a million people in the UK were living with an injury or illness caused or made worse by their jobs.

International Workers’ Memorial Day is marked annually in Bradford with a rally at the plaque.

Allan Whittles died in an industrial incident in Brighouse in 1984. His daughter Amanda Allan attended the rally with her sister Kathryn Mears and John Wiggins, who was working with her father when he died. She said it was important to remember her father surrounded by people who understood what they had been through.

She said: “The bottom line is you shouldn’t have to go to work and be in danger of losing your life.”