FAIRHOPE, Ala. — This Tuesday, April 28, is Workers Memorial Day, and Fairhope resident Ron Hayes will be speaking that day to 150 employees at a concrete plant in Tennessee about workplace safety.

First observed in 1989, the annual memorial to remember those who have died or been injured on the job occurs on April 28 because that is the anniversary of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, according to the AFL-CIO, which organized the original memorial and sponsors events in honor of it around the country each year.

On Friday, May 1, Hayes will be on a panel on corporate responsibility and workers’ rights in Madison, Wisc., at the 100th anniversary conference of The Progressive magazine. A cover story he wrote for that magazine in 1995 is reprinted this year in a new book, Democracy in Print: The Best of the Progressive Magazine 1909-2009.

“If it had not been for Ron Hayes, I don’t know what we would have done,” said Peggy Phillips. “He genuinely cares about people and goes the extra mile for anyone who has lost a family member at work on the job.”

Phillips’ son, Joshua Adams, died by electrocution last summer, while working on a school construction project in Robertsdale.

“He was 33 and a new dad,” Phillips said. “We didn’t know it, but we only had two weeks before the (OSHA) deadline for citations against the company.”

Hayes happened to visit where Phillips worked and noticed a flier about her son’s death and asked if she’d been contacted by OSHA.

When he found out how close the deadline was for penalties against the company, he went into action, she said.

“He called everywhere,” she said. “He couldn’t even find a case file. OSHA had done nothing. But his work resulted in the company getting three ‘serious’ violations. He stirred up a pot of activity.”

Phillips said the total fine of $11,760 might not seem like a lot, but if the company is cited again for similar safety violations, the fines can be 20 times higher the next time.

“You assume a government agency is going to do the right thing, but you would be wrong,” Phillips said. “Ron gave me some important information and helped me work with OSHA, because they were just not doing their job.”

The Phillips family is just one of the 773 families that Hayes and his nonprofit group have helped since 1993, he said.

That was the year his 19-year-old son, Patrick, was killed on the job in DeFuniak Springs, Fla., at a chicken-processing plant.

“He suffocated under 20 tons of corn in a silo he had been cleaning out,” Hayes said. “I didn’t know anything about OSHA at the time and had never been political. But we weren’t treated with compassion or dignity or given basic information that night when we went to DeFuniak Springs to see his body.”

Hayes, 60, of Fairhope, said that he told his wife, Dot, on the drive home that “something wasn’t right, and we needed to find out what it was.”

The following two years were life-changing for Hayes. He left his job as an X-ray technician in Mobile and began a crusade to find out what happened to his son and what should be done about it.

What he learned led to the founding of a nonprofit group, The FIGHT (Families In Grief Hold Together) Project and a new mission in his life.

The fine against the company in his son’s case was reduced from a possible $530,000 to $42,000, but his advocacy work led to reforms at OSHA regarding standards for employees in grain handling operations that could result in more severe sanctions.

“I just want people to see that they can do something,” Hayes said this week in his office where the walls are covered with dozens of awards, testimonials, news articles and signed pictures of elected officials of every political stripe. “It’s a constant fight when you lose somebody like this. You have to deal with it everyday. You can sit in a corner and cry, or you can stand up and fight. It’s a fight to go to work and keep the children fed. It’s a fight just to get up every morning and go on with your life.”

On Oct. 19, 1995, Hays received a rare letter of apology from the head of OSHA.

“I am writing to apologize to you on behalf of the U.S. Labor Department for errors that we made as a result of OSHA’s investigation after your son Patrick’s tragic death on Oct. 22, 1993,” wrote Joseph Dear, the agency’s director. “In my view, our field staff erred by not elevating a case of this significance to a higher level of review. There is no question that your personal dedication to vindicating your son’s death has led to greater federal protection for the safety of grain handling workers. Grieving parents should not have to shoulder such a burden, and I deeply regret that we did not recognize and correct this problem sooner. We let you and your family down, and I apologize for our not having extended ourselves to the fullest. OSHA and countless workers throughout this country are indebted to your dedication to improving worker health and safety.”

Hayes travels often around the country, speaking to employees and companies about improving workplace safety.

“I really like talking to employees to encourage them to be part of the safety process,” he said. “I also enjoy working with responsible companies to improve their procedures.”

Hayes has also testified in Congress, served as a consultant and been present at several major disasters at the request of the federal government to work with families and officials to handle such tragedies.

But it’s his work for individual families going through the trauma of a loved one’s death or injury on the job that is at the heart of The FIGHT’s mission.

“We help families get government documents and reports, without paying if possible,” Hayes said. “We find all the information we can, send them a book about dealing with grief, and put them in touch with others in their community who can help them. We try and help them where they are in their own community.”

The FIGHT Project will soon have a children’s coloring book published to help children cope with these situations, and a publication for companies dealing with major disasters.

Hayes will head to Tennessee today and then to Wisconsin later in the week. He said will also be staying in touch with current legislative efforts in Congress on a bill to expand worker safety rights that he says should have a better chance of passing now than it has in previous years.

“I have the highest regard for Ron,” said Matt Rothschild, the editor of The Progressive magazine. “Since his tragedy, he has devoted his life to preventing similar suffering. He is able to tell his story in a way that everyone understands in plain, simple, compelling language.”

Rothschild said he felt privileged to publish the story by Hayes in 1995 and to include it in their new book. He said he is very pleased Hayes will be able to appear at their conference in Madison next weekend because he brings a perspective few others have on worker safety issues.

“He has taken his message of having safe workplaces around the country and been a source information and real comfort for those who are suffering,” Rothschild said. “I think Ron Hayes is an American hero.”

For more information about The FIGHT Project, call 1-800-388-8644 (code 19).