A Gloucester fisherman who died in New Bedford last year will be one of the dozens who died last year in workplace accidents to be saluted at the Statehouse today.
Giuseppe "Joe" Cracchiolo, who worked on the herring boat Sunlight and was well-known on the docks in Gloucester, New Bedford and Maine, died Jan. 28, 2011, when he slipped off an icy ramp and fell some 20 feet into the water in New Bedford Harbor while trying to board the midwater trawler.
Today's Workers Memorial Day Commemoration will honor other workers who were killed, injured or made ill on their jobs in 2011.
Also being remembered is Ellen Engelhardt, 58, one of the state's first female troopers. The 22-year veteran died in June nearly eight years after a drunken driver slammed into her cruiser in the breakdown lane of Route 25 in Wareham in 2003. She suffered severe brain trauma and fell into a vegetative state and died of injuries suffered in the crash.
The event is scheduled for noon to 1 p.m. on the stairs of the Statehouse.
Sponsors include the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health, Massachusetts AFL-CIO, and the Greater Boston Labor Council.
The labor groups will hand out copies of their new report on workplace fatalities, "Dying for Work in Massachusetts," and roses will be laid in memory of the fallen workers.
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