Death in the workplace

A headline yesterday announced that two construction workers died and a third was injured when a scaffold collapsed in Texas. Another headline in the same paper noted that deaths of Hispanic workers are up 76% since 1992, while the overall rate has fallen.

There is no doubt that part of the increase is due to the fact that Latinos now represent a larger segment of the US workforce, rising from 10.4% in 1998 to 14% in 2007, but the statistical increase does not explain the increase in the accident rate, which is proportionally higher among Hispanics than for other workers: 5 of every 100,000 Hispanics die at work, compared to 3.7 for African-Americans and 4.0 for whites.

Other figures begin to explain why Hispanic workers have 25% more fatal workplace accidents than whites or African-Americans: Latino immigrants have 70% more fatal accidents than non-immigrant Latinos, according to analyses done some time ago by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

The same institution concluded that the most significant reasons include language and cultural barriers, and a lack of training and supervision. No less important is the fact that undocumented immigrants working in construction—the sector where most accidents take place—tend not to report irregularities out of fear of retaliation.

Undoubtedly many of the necessary laws already exist, but they need to be enforced and the companies and industries that put workers’ lives at risk need to be severely punished. And this does not even begin to address the need for immigration reform, which would give many of these workers a voice.

A headline yesterday announced that two construction workers died and a third was injured when a scaffold collapsed in Texas. Another headline in the same paper noted that deaths of Hispanic workers are up 76% since 1992, while the overall rate has fallen.

There is no doubt that part of the increase is due to the fact that Latinos now represent a larger segment of the US workforce, rising from 10.4% in 1998 to 14% in 2007, but the statistical increase does not explain the increase in the accident rate, which is proportionally higher among Hispanics than for other workers: 5 of every 100,000 Hispanics die at work, compared to 3.7 for African-Americans and 4.0 for whites.

Other figures begin to explain why Hispanic workers have 25% more fatal workplace accidents than whites or African-Americans: Latino immigrants have 70% more fatal accidents than non-immigrant Latinos, according to analyses done some time ago by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

The same institution concluded that the most significant reasons include language and cultural barriers, and a lack of training and supervision. No less important is the fact that undocumented immigrants working in construction—the sector where most accidents take place—tend not to report irregularities out of fear of retaliation.

Undoubtedly many of the necessary laws already exist, but they need to be enforced and the companies and industries that put workers’ lives at risk need to be severely punished. And this does not even begin to address the need for immigration reform, which would give many of these workers a voice.

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