On Wednesday 30, 2025 over one-thousand construction workers gathered at St. Patrick’s Cathedral to remember their fellow tradesman and woman that died or were injured at work in 2024. Most workers attending the program carried their hard hats. A bagpiper led the precession into the cathedral in this annual solemn ceremony.
Father Brian Jordan, the chaplain to the building trades for more than 20 years escorted the group into the church. Father Jordan is pastor of St.Francis of Assisi parish on West 31st Street in Manhattan, and has a deep connection for over 20 years to the men and woman working in the NYC building industry.
Once inside St. Patrick’s, it was easy to notice that in front of the altar were 15 empty chairs, each with a white hard hat placed on it. Each chair represented a union or non-union worker killed on a worksite in 2024 and the early part of 2025. Fourteen workers died in workplace accidents over the last 12 months. The 15th chair represented all those who have died in similar accidents in previous years. Nine of those killed were non-union. Father Jordan said in his homily from the pulpit. “We are all equal in death.” Banners from local building and construction unions were on display during this 17th annual Hard Hat Mass.
“Since March of 2008 until now, over 272 members of the construction industry have died in New York City. That’s an average of nearly 14-15 per year,” said Father Jordan. “There are rumors of the elimination of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Department of Labor. How dare they even think about that? We need OSHA more than ever. It was created in 1970 to help preserve the gift of human life. We need the workplace to be safe”.
Following the homily, the names of each person who died in a construction workplace accident during the past year were read aloud, followed by a chime from a bell made of materials recovered from the 9/11 site.
“For those of us who remember 9/11, that’s when Fr. Brian Jordan became the building trades’ chaplain,” NYS Building & Construction Trades Council President Gary LaBarbera said while speaking from the lectern.
The NYC Central Labor Council and the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) held a ceremony at City Hall Park on Thursday, April 25th to commemorate 43 workers across all industries who lost their lives on the job in New York City since April 28, 2023.
