Friday marked the annual Day of Mourning - remembering BC workers who have been injured or killed on the job.
A solemn ceremony at Rutland's Ben Lee Park included speakers like WorkSafeBC's Mary-Jaye Salmon who believes work safety education should start at a young age.
"Officers like myself go into high schools quite regularily and discuss things with career prep planning classes and we're even starting earlier now - in my view it needs to start in primary school quite honestly," she said.
Mike Shaw, was freestyle skiing coach, but after a life-threatening neck injury, his career ended.
He had a message for workers in British Columbia.
"I want all workers, especially young workers, to understand they need to listen to that inner voice. If something doesn't feel right, speak up, voice your concern, trust your intuition, because we can prevent these things, " he said.
In 2016 - 144 workers in BC lost their lives to workplace injury or disease.
Day of mourning ceremonies took place around the world, and the day is recognized by the federal and provincial governments, as well as municipalities across BC.