Britain's biggest union is launching a campaign across East Sussex to improve health and safety in the workplace.

The Transport and General Workers' Union is calling for tougher safety regulations six years after a Sussex University student was killed.

Simon Jones was 24 when his head was almost severed by a mechanical crane grab in the hold of a ship in April 1998.

The student was on a gap year and had been taken on by Dutch-registered firm Euromin through an employment agency. It was his first day in the job.

After years of battling by his parents Anne and Chris and other members of the Simon Jones Memorial Campaign, Euromin was prosecuted.

The firm and director Richard Martell were cleared of manslaughter but the firm was fined £50,000 with £20,000 costs for health and safety breaches.

Under the banner "A hard day's work never killed anyone - negligent bosses did", the T&G will hold a march and rally at the new Wembley stadium.

The rally will coincide with International Workers' Memorial Day on April 28, which remembers those killed in workplace accidents.

Before that event, the union has organised a series of activities across East Sussex to highlight its message.

T&G branch secretary Rachael Webb said: "Last year nearly one person every day died while at work because of negligence."

Simon's mother last week addressed MPs on behalf of the campaign.

Mrs Jones, from Oxfordshire, told them about the failure of any Government body to regulate the work of employment agencies.

A spokesman for the campaign, based in Brighton, welcomed the T&G's move.

He said: "Anything that will make it easier for workers to avoid being injured in the workplace can only be a good thing."

Thursday April 01, 2004