A NORTH-East town is to host a memorial day in honour of the hundreds of workers who die doing their jobs every year.

The International Workers' Memorial, in Church Square, Hartlepool, will be the venue for the Workers' Memorial Remembrance Service, to be held on Monday.

Organised by Hartlepool Trades Union Council (TUC), the event has been held each year since 1999 to commemorate those who have lost their lives to industrial accident or disease.

Edwin Jeffries, the president of Hartlepool TUC, said: "Each year, 1,500 people in the UK are killed while doing their jobs, including those killed on the roads in the course of their work.

"Between 10,000 and 20,000 more people die each year each year from work-related diseases, with up to 5,000 dying from asbestos-related diseases alone.

"About two million people are killed by work worldwide each year, more than by war or Aids. However, unlike those dying in war or major incidents, these people are not publicly remembered. Workers' Day remembers them all."

Stella Guy, the regional secretary of the TGWU, will be among the guest speakers.

Doors open in the municipal buildings, Church Square, at 11.45am for tea and biscuits before the main service, which begins at 12.15pm. Wreaths will be laid on two trees planted in the square as a workers' memorial.