St. Patrick's Cathedral was filled with hard harts Thursday to commemorate International Workers' Memorial Day. The workers lowered their heads and held their hats to honor victims of work related accidents.

Evandro Silva, a bridge painter from Yonkers, attended the mass to "give respect to all of the brothers who lost their lives."

"With the heights and the paints -- our job is dangerous," he said.

The day of mourning coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration -- the federal agency that regulates workplace safety and health conditions. The labor department reported that more than 3.3 million workers were injured on the job in 2009.

In New York state there were 184 workplace fatalities in 2009. Numbers are down since previous years, but experts say the decline is mostly due to high unemployment and a weak construction industry.