Jump in fatalities of Latino workers

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.lavozcolorado.com/news.php?nid=2554

Posted on 05-14-2008

The recent AFL-CIO annual study: Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect recently reported workplace fatalities as having increased sharply for Latino and immigrant workers. In 2006, fatal injuries among Latino workers increased by seven percent over 2005, with 990 fatalities among this group of workers, the highest number ever reported.

The total number of fatal workplace injuries in the United States was 5,840, an increase from the year before. On average, 16 workers were fatally injured and another 11,200 workers were injured or made ill each day in 2006. These statistics do not include deaths from occupational diseases, which claim the lives of an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 more workers each year.


Juan J. Soledad braces himself against a 2x4 as he leans over a freshly poured sidewalk to do the finishing work. LA VOZ Nueva photo by Todd Pierson


The fatality rate among Hispanic workers in 2006 was 25 percent higher than the fatal injury rate for all U.S. workers. Since 1992, when data was first collected in the BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, the number of fatalities among Latino workers has increased by 86 percent, from 533 fatal injuries in 1992 to 990 deaths in 2006. Among foreign-born workers, job fatalities have increased by 63 percent, from 635 to 1,035 deaths.

“It’s clear that the workplace safety net has more holes than fabric, and it is ...

FULL 3 page story at link.

[alstephenson]

1. k & r