Many a tear was spilled at Confederation Building yesterday as people paid tribute to loved ones who have been killed or seriously injured on the job.

Yesterday was the National Day of Mourning, an event designed to bring awareness to safety shortcomings in the workplace.

Terri Murphy, whose son, Jonathan Murphy, was working as a pipefitter in the oilfields in Fort Hills, Alberta, was killed when a fellow employee put a truck in reverse and backed over him. Murphy says the 19-year-old operator did not follow any of the safety protocols such as a walkabout and did not look in the rearview or side mirrors.

That would have been his last day of rotation. He was scheduled to return to Newfoundland the next day to purchase his first house.

She said yesterday that Suncor and its partners had all the safety protocols in place—they just weren’t followed. She told the companies that she expected to see them at the funeral.

“They needed to see my son in that casket, they needed to feel it, to move forward in life. And not to forget about him. I needed management to feel what i was feeling,” said Murphy.