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State taking steps to make dangerous job a little safer
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
On July 21, 45-year-old construction worker Gregorio Mendoza fell 15 feet from a roof he was working on at an Isle of Palms home. Mendoza died in the hospital two days later.
He is the most recent statistic of local construction site fatalities, which in recent years has spiked for Hispanic workers. The construction industry continues to top the nation’s list of most hazardous occupations, with 1,224 deaths in the sector in 2004, according to the most recent data available from the Labor Department’s National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.
This number represents an 8% rise in fatal work injuries in the construction industry from the previous year.
Because of employment increases in the sector, however, the number was not considered significantly higher than in 2003.
Among major private industries, construction had the highest percentage of illnesses and injuries at 97.5%. Goods-producing industries such as construction and manufacturing make up 21% of private industry employment, but account for 32% of injuries and illnesses requiring days off from work.
In South Carolina, construction industry injuries and illness rates are dropping, but the state is still concerned about the rate of fatalities.
“That’s still a concern, particularly with falls,” said Jim Knight, spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation in Columbia.
While Knight said the state’s rate of workplace illness and injury has dropped steadily during the past 10 years, the agency is reaching out to employers with training and educational programs to try to curb workplace fatalities.
In the Mendoza case, Knight said it would be about six weeks before the LLR has concluded its investigation into the accident.
A growing Hispanic work force and a spike in the number of workplace fatalities among Hispanic construction workers has prompted the LLR to put together a task force to try to determine where and why most deaths were occurring and what the agency can do to improve safety.
“As far as Hispanic workers, we became alarmed in 2004 that the number of fatalities and injuries involving Hispanic workers was escalating beyond what the numbers were for non-Hispanic workers,” Knight said.
The number of Hispanics killed in construction activity peaked in 2003, Knight said, when the agency investigated 34 workplace fatalities, 11 of which involved Hispanics.
“We looked at the industries where the most fatalities were occurring and they were primarily in construction,” Knight said.
Falls were the No. 1 cause of death, followed by trenching accidents, workers struck by objects and electrocutions.
LLR’s Hispanic Task Force has put together a training program for Hispanic workers in construction and has provided training in Spanish on construction safety topics to more than 1,000 workers, primarily in the Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head Island areas.
“We’re looking to go into the Charleston area this fall and provide training there,” Knight said.
Employers can also find training resources and statistical information in English and Spanish on LLR’s Web site, www.llr.state.sc.us\hispanictaskforce.
Knight believes the program has already made a difference. Of the 34 workplace fatalities reported in 2004, six were Hispanic workers, Knight said. In 2005, Hispanic workers accounted for six of 41 workplace fatalities and in fiscal year 2006, which ended June 30, there were 37 fatalities, five of which were Hispanics.
“We’ve gone from 11 in 2003 to five this most recent fiscal year and we think we’ve made an impact,” Knight said.
LLR is working with a couple of trade groups on the educational campaign, including the Carolinas chapter of Associated General Contractors and Associated Builders and Contractors.
Leslie Blum, vice president of Charlotte, N.C.-based Carolinas AGC, said the organization has offered Spanish language resources for the past five years.
“We were on the front end of that curve,” Blum said.
David Wachter, owner and publisher of Charleston-based Construction Week magazine, thinks the danger level has possibly risen for Hispanics because some of the workers cannot read, even in their native language.
“As your national builders come into an area, your illegal aliens follow them,” Wachter said. “A lot of your workers can’t read, period. They’re uneducated, unskilled, unvaccinated. They’re going to work longer hours for less money and a lot of those guys do not have (workers’ compensation).”
Phillip Ford, president of the Charleston Trident Homebuilders Association, said anytime there is a language barrier among workers there may be difficulties, but he believes most job sites where Hispanic workers are employed include some Hispanics who speak English fluently.
“I wouldn’t say there’s a problem when you think about how many workers are working on these houses around here,” Ford said. “I think it’s amazing many more are not injured. Our goal is zero injuries, but I think it shows that we’re doing a pretty good job at communicating what is required to keep a job site safe.”
Builders also don’t want the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration fining them for work site violations, Ford said.
“Their insurance premiums are already through the roof,” he said. “They don’t want to be fined and they don’t want to pay any more for insurance or possibly lose their coverage. I think those two incentives really help to keep the market safe.”
Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@charlestonbusiness.com.
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