More Hispanic workers die in American workplace accidents; negligence is evident

Posted by Bruce Westbrook

July 20, 2009

In America, the number of workplace deaths has declined — but not for Hispanics.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says worker deaths overall dropped from 6,217 in 1992 to 5,657 in 2007, a reduction of about 8 per cent. Yet Hispanic worker deaths in the same period increased from 533 in 1992 to 937 in 2007, the latest year with set statistics. That’s a rise of almost 80 per cent in Hispanic workplace deaths.

Larger numbers of Hispanics in the USA’s workforce account for some of the increase, but only a small amount. Since 1998, Hispanics in America’s workforce went from 10.4 per cent to 14 per cent in 2007.

That leaves other factors to explain the alarming increase in Hispanic workers’ fatalities — factors such as poor communication, deficient training and sheer exploitation of workers by employees.

In the state of Texas alone, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has investigated 21 Hispanic workers’ fatalities so far this year. These included three Hispanic workers who fell 11 stories to their deaths from a scaffolding in Austin which collapsed. And last year, OSHA probed 50 Hispanic worker fatalities in Texas alone.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis told USA Today she is “particularly concerned about our Hispanic workface, as Latinos often work low-wage jobs and are more susceptible to injuries in the workplace than other workers. There can be no excuses for negligence in protecting workers, not even a language barrier.”

Such negligence by employers has led to Hispanic workers being crushed beneath heavy equipment or machinery or run over by trucks and other vehicles. Hispanic workers also often fall from a roof or scaffolding and die in a variety of construction accidents involving dangerous work stretched over long hours.

Indeed, in a recent three-year period, 34 per cent of all Hispanic workplace deaths were in the construction industry.

It’s believed that proper training could help Hispanics avoid a workplace accident or workplace injury. Failure to supply such training is the full responsibility of the employer or owner of the business involved.

If you or a loved one has been harmed in a workplace accident due to the negligence of an employer, co-worker or worksite owner, alert a workplace injury lawyer with Jim S. Adler & Associates and get the help you need.

Negligent employers and worksite owners must be held accountable for workplace injuries and fatalities, and an Adler personal injury lawyer can do that job, striving to secure financial compensation for your medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering.

Also keep in mind that Hispanic workers in America are hardly alone, but are a force in themselves. An estimated 20 million Hispanics work in America, and just over half of them are foreign-born, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.

For these foreign-born Hispanic workers, it’s believe they have an especially high risk of injury and death on the job, in part due to communication gaps between employers and employees.

Regardless of an employee’s ethnic group or national origin, employers have a legal obligation to ensure their safety on the job. When this obligation is not met, and when an innocent worker suffers, a workplace injury lawyer can fight for them — and for justice.

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