Most NYC Construction Deaths Occur on Non-Union Worksites

According to an article posted on NYC construction deaths, most NYC construction deaths occur on non-union worksites.

Of the 43 construction workers who died on the job in New York City in 2006, the majority worked on non-union sites, according to the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH).

The 2006 fatality data represents an 87 percent increase over the previous year’s 23 deaths, making it the deadliest year in a decade for the NYC construction industry. Edward Walsh, president of the New York State District Council of Iron Workers, says that reports generated by this jump in construction fatalities did not take into consideration whether the workers were employed by union or non-union sites.

“It’s misleading when the statistics come out because they don’t define the union and non-union deaths, so we get thrown in the mix,” Walsh said.

Many reports largely neglected the non-union factor and instead cited issues such as the city’s building boom, immigrant workers and language barriers as having a significant impact on the fatality data. According to some stories, NYC “workers were more likely to die on construction jobs if they were foreign born, Hispanic, spoke a language other than English, and worked for a non-union crew.”

In fact, OSHA statistics reveal that 40 of the construction deaths in the last 18 months occurred on non-union worksites. These statistics also point out that the majority of construction deaths occurred on buildings under 14 stories tall. According to Lou Coletti, president of the Building Trades Employment Association, high-rise construction is almost entirely unionized.

“The high-rise construction in New York City is the safest high-rise construction in the world – so if we’re looking for why construction deaths have spiked, it’s in the sites of below 14 stories, and it’s because that workforce is not sufficiently trained, either from a skills standpoint or a safety standpoint,” Coletti said.

“The unionized sector does everything it can to provide training both to its project manager personnel, as well as its skilled trained workforce,” Coletti added, “and virtually none of that is done in the non-union sector.”

Nationally, construction fatalities in 2006 rose three percent to include a total of 1,226 deaths. Construction deaths accounted for 21 percent of the nation’s 5,703 workplace fatalities in 2006, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Amid building boom, construction deaths soar in NYC

According to an article on Boston Globe’s website on construction deaths in New York City, forty-three people died while working construction in New York in 2006, the deadliest year in at least a decade in the city, according to recently released data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The death toll was up 87 percent from 2005, when 23 people died. Nationally, construction deaths in 2006 rose just 3 percent.

The rise in New York vastly exceeds what happened in other big cities. The Los Angeles area recorded 33 deaths in 2006, versus 35 in 2005, the bureau said. The Miami area had 34 deaths, compared with 26 the previous year.

Construction is the most dangerous work nationally, accounting for 1,226 fatalities in 2006, or 21 percent of the 5,703 workplace deaths overall, according to the bureau.

New York construction workers and safety specialists point to the city's unprecedented building boom as a reason for the jump. Scaffolds cover the facades of thousands of buildings. Major developments are going up in every borough. Apartment buildings and high-rise condos are being built at a frenetic pace.

A review of 2006 OSHA reports on New York construction fatalities obtained by the Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request showed that deaths followed a pattern. An internal report by OSHA's Manhattan office echoed the findings.

Workers were more likely to die on construction jobs if they were foreign-born, Hispanic, spoke a language other than English, or worked for a nonunion crew. They were also more likely to die from falls. Mostly, the workers fell because they had no safety gear or it was not being used properly. Often, those who died had little or no safety training. Some victims were crushed to death in building or trench collapses, or struck by falling debris. Some were electrocuted. A few were burned alive.

Construction workers and specialists agree that a lack of training, especially for immigrants who do not speak English, plays a big role in the number of deaths.

Boomers to Affect Workers' Comp in Long Term Care Industry

According to an article on workers’ comp the long-term care industry will be impacted substantially by the aging of the population and employment in certain sectors of the long-term care industry is forecast to grow significantly faster than average over the next several years. A National Council on Compensation Insurance research study examines how aging baby boomers and a growing long-term care Industry will present an emerging issue for workers' compensation insurance.

In addition to examining industry growth rate the NCCI study explores injury characteristics for nursing home facilities, retirement living centers, and home healthcare services that together make up the long-term care industry.

The study found that total losses per worker for all three components of the long-term care industry are generally higher than average and that employment in two of the three components (retirement living centers and home healthcare services) is forecast to grow at a significantly above average pace.

The study finds that home healthcare severity is likely to be higher than severity at nursing homes and retirement living facilities due to a high share of more severe motor vehicle accidents.

Riskiest industries for Latinos

In an article on work injuries and workers compensation, fatal work injuries involving Hispanic or Latino workers is the highest it has ever been according to U.S Bureau of Labor statistics for 2006. The data for all other workers nationwide show a steady decline each year in fatal and non fatal injuries on the job but the trend for Latinos both foreign born and US born is a steady increase in fatalities and injuries every year, and Mexicans have the most to lose. Mexicans are twice as likely to die on the job as other immigrant employees. The increase includes both the total number of fatalities and the rate of fatalities (deaths per 100,000 employed) New Jersey reflects a slight decrease in 2005 compared to 2004, but Pennsylvania shows an increase in fatalities in 2005 compared to 2004 for Hispanics.

Construction, mining, manufacturing, hospitality and the agriculture industries were the most dangerous for Hispanics in 2006. These industries account for the highest number and rate of injuries or illnesses that are job related. For example construction jobs have the highest total number of fatalities, whereas mining, agriculture, forestry, and fishing have the highest rate of fatalities per 100,000 employed.

Why Latinos?

Where are most Latinos employed? Statistics show it is agriculture, manufacturing, construction, hotels, restaurants and landscaping. These industries also happen to be among the most accident prone industries. Economic forces and globalization drive the need for cheap no questions asked labor, where the tendency is to exploit the laborer. This is ironic as we live in a country that has the most advanced protections for workers rights. On the other hand the same forces that drive the economy are driving job hunting workers to risk life and limb to find sufficient income by migrating across county, state, and border lines.

The majority of the States’ workers’ compensation laws include “aliens” in the definition of covered employees. According to the National Employment Law Project; State courts in a number of states including New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania; have specifically held that undocumented workers are covered under their state workers’ compensation laws”.