Vigil held for worker killed in construction accident

A vigil was held in Southampton Village, New York, yesterday for an immigrant worker who died in a construction accident early last month.

About three dozen people attended the ceremony for Facundo Gonzalez, 33, who died when an improperly secured concrete wall fell on him.

Officials who spoke at the event touched on the safety issues that lead to these construction accidents. Vivian Viloria-Fisher, deputy presiding officer of the Suffolk legislature, was quoted in Newsday as saying "Unless every worker can work safely, then no worker can work safely. We have to be concerned that everyone who goes out to do a day's work, who also is a human being, is protected."

This is exactly the right sentiment. All manner of accidents, be they construction accidents, scaffold accidents, or auto accidents, happen far too often.

The system we have now is ill-equipped to preempt accidents. Inspection is lax and infrequent until after an accident occurs. Only then does the government truly step in and enforce safety regulations.

This is a terrible system for workers, but it is especially bad for immigrant workers.

These employees have no hope of policing their employers. They don't have unions to negotiate on their behalf. They don't have the English or schooling to parse complicated construction codes.

They don't even learn about the laws their employers are bound by until they have an accident. Then, if they're lucky, they consult a personal injury attorney who's willing to explain these things to them.

But by then it is too late: they are already injured and their lives are changed forever.

To improve this sad state of affairs federal, state and local governments must work together to establish effective oversight of the construction industry with a simple goal: Unsafe employers should face stiff penalties quickly, and without exception. It would be a big step towards the universally safe workplace Ms. Viloria-Fisher imagines.