KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT)- People head to work each day to bring money home and put food on the table.

But just last year, more than 70 Tennesseans died on the job and never returned home.

On Saturday, dozens gathered in downtown Knoxville in their honor for "Worker's Memorial Day."

Pictures were held up of those lost like Solin Estrada Jimenez...a construction worker killed while working on the Henley Bridge project.

Or John Eslinger...an employee at a Gatlinburg treatment plant crushed after a wall collapsed.
They're two of the 75 workers whose sacrifice was remembered.

Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett says,
"When they said 75 people I thought how many boys or girls mamas and daddies aren't coming home tonight."

Mayor Burchett joined Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero to kick off the service outside the City-County Building, calling for continuing efforts to improve safety in construction and at all work sites.

Mayor Rogero says,
"Tennessee workers deserve to work in a safe and healthy environment."

After a joint proclamation, folks marched to the middle of the Gay Street Bridge and honored those who died by dropping flowers into the river below.

Their way to mourn for the dead and fight for the living.