Unions Otago life members Sandra Bishop and Jim Kelly lay a wreath for the annual Workers Memorial Day commemoration in Dunedin yesterday.
Now in its 14th year, the event was "pretty sombre", he said.
Unions Otago secretary Malcolm Deans said about 50 people attended the service at the Otago Workers Memorial, at the Market Reserve.
"We are bearing witness to the memory of the people who have gone to work and not come home, so it is always pretty sombre."
Sixty-two people had died at work in Otago since 1992, Mr Deans said.
Rail and Maritime Transport Union representative Dave Kearns spoke at the service.