On Friday, the Yukon Workers' Compensation Health and Safety Board will mark the Day of Mourning, a day to remember workers who are injured or kill on the job.

And while Bill Barr will also mark it as the national day for remembrance, it's Aug. 19, 2000 that really stands out for him.

'That's my day of remembrance,' he said in an interview Monday morning.

It was on that day a workplace accident changed his life in every aspect from his ability to work to his relationship with his family.

'It has a tremendous psychological impact on your life,' he said.

Barr had worked in the Yukon construction industry since he arrived in the territory in 1975. For the most part, he made sure he took whatever safety precautions were believed to be needed such as wearing steel-toed boots or earplugs.

On that Saturday morning, he was working in purchasing and logistics, getting ready to unload a flat deck truck on the construction site.

Before he used the forklift to unload the truck, he went to check the propane tanks on it to find out if they were empty or full and whether the forklift could handle the load. As he was getting off the truck, he slipped and fell, hitting his tailbone.

'I only fell about 5 1/2 feet, but there was no time to correct myself,' he said.

As a co-worker came over, Barr told him he just needed to lay there for a minute. But when he tried to get up, he couldn't do it. A few minutes became 25 minutes before he decided he needed to call someone.

'Like any good man, I phoned my wife,' he said, with a laugh.

His wife, who's a nurse, told him to call an ambulance.

After he arrived at Whitehorse General Hospital, an X-ray showed he had crushed a bone in his vertebrae, but an MRI was needed for a full assessment.

At the time there was no MRI available in Whitehorse. Barr was medevaced to Vancouver General Hospital, where tests were done.

He stayed with relatives for about two weeks after the MRI.

'I was basically bedridden,' said Barr.

Although he had a brace to help him get around, he was only able to stand for a few minutes, long enough to get a shower.

It was determined the injury would best heal on its own, but it wasn't until the following February that he was well enough to even begin physiotherapy.

'The bones just weren't knitting back together,' said Barr.

And though he was working, he wasn't very productive, he said.

Finally, the compensation board sent him Outside to a six-week pain clinic. Staff there looked at everything from how pain works to medicine to exercise and diet. Basically they showed Barr and others how to control things which can be controlled and to help deal with those things that can't, like the chronic pain.

Barr returned to Whitehorse feeling good and ready for a return to work program plan which would see him gradually work his way up to a 40-hour-week.

He wasn't able to make it all the way through, even when the program was revised a couple of times.

'I just couldn't get through the whole program. It was causing problems,' he said.

His weekends and evenings were often spent simply recuperating from work. It became apparent to both him and his co-workers that the situation wasn't good for anyone.

Talking it over with his employer, it was evident he could no longer do the work he'd done in the past.

He was fortunate enough that there was more sedentary work his employer needed to be done such as data entry and a bit of purchasing work. In the last few years, he's been asked to review the company's safety program.

Although Barr has been able to go back to work, he can no longer work for a full eight hours a day. Mornings are usually better for him and by 3 p.m., his work day is behind him.

The accident has meant a change in every aspect of his life and coming to an acceptance that he's limited in what he can do.

It was extremely challenging in the first few years after the fall to realize those limitations.

As the Day of Mourning approaches on Friday, Barr wants to send out a message of support for the Yukon Workers' Compensation Health and Safety Board's endeavours to improve safety awareness in the workplace.

It's also a message that should go beyond where a person is employed, he said.

'It's something that starts at home, not at work,' he said.

Articles on other Yukon victims of workplace accidents and their families will be published later this week in the lead-up to Friday's Day of Mourning ceremonies.