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Labor statistics don’t measure shock of a lost life in Latino workplace deaths

Last month, three construction workers in Austin died after falling 11 floors down the side of a building.

They fell off a lift in the scaffolding that supported them. All three, ages 28, 30 and 40, were part of the crew working on the 21 Rio condo project, just blocks from the University of Texas at Austin campus.

The tragedy was duly reported, the appropriate investigations have been launched and workplace safety advocates have peppered their blogs with calls for due process and stricter safety measures.

It’s difficult to not be cynical, but it crosses my mind that if it weren’t for the fact that three workers perished in the same accident the larger story of fatal workplace incidents would not be known.

Since 1992, while the overall number of workplace deaths has declined nationwide, the number of Latino workplace deaths has increased by 76 percent. The raw numbers are telling: there were 533 Latino workplace deaths in 1992.

In 2006 the number increased to 990. Last year, in Texas, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration reported that 50 Latinos lost their lives in work-related accidents. The deaths of the Austin scaffold tragedy were numbers 19, 20 and 21 so far this year.

The simplistic reason for the increase is that there are more Latino construction workers today than there were 17 years ago. And while that may be true, the statistic is disproportionate.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Latinos comprised 10.4 percent of the U.S. labor force in 1998. By 2007 the number had increased to 14 percent. It’s a substantial growth, no doubt.

But the growth does not substantiate the dramatic increase in workplace fatalities. Neither do the numbers show the impact on families and fellow workers. The victims are someone’s son or daughter, parent or sibling.

These accidents leave gaps much larger than a couple of day’s interruption in a construction project workflow. And that’s something that labor statistics can’t measure. Cold numbers can’t illustrate the shock of a lost life.

It’s easy to attribute such things to the tragic yet not surprising outcome of workplace hazards. Most of these are not cozy, desk or cubicle jobs. These people put their lives at risk, and they understand the gamble.

What is unacceptable, though, is the underlying cause of most of these accidents. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics sites three factors that lead to workplace accidents and fatalities: poor communication skills, lack of training and exploitation of workers.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, in a recent interview in SA Today, said she is “particularly concerned about our Hispanic work force, as Latinos often work low-wage jobs and are more susceptible to injuries in the workplace than other workers.”

“There can be no excuses” she added, “for negligence in protecting workers, not even a language barrier.”

Solis is correct, and she should use the entire weight of her department to ensure that these three factors become negligible for future workers and their families.

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