Bituminous Insurance Companies

Injury Death Statistics for Hispanic Workers

In the United States, during the period 1992--2006, Hispanics were among the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. workforce. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and certain State agencies have analyzed data for this period and produced a report summarizing injury death statistics for Hispanic workers.

Highlights from the report include:

• In 2006, an estimated 19.6 million workers were Hispanic and 56 percent of them were foreign born
• A total of 11,303 Hispanic workers died from work-related injuries representing about 13 percent of all U.S. work-related injury deaths during that period.
• The death rate for Hispanic workers decreased during this period; however, the rate was consistently higher than the rate for all U.S. workers, and the proportion of deaths among foreign-born Hispanic workers increased over time.
• During 2003--2006, 34 percent of Hispanic worker deaths occurred in the construction industry.
• Median age of Hispanic decedents was 35 years, compared with a median age of 42 years for all workers.
• Approximately 95 percent of Hispanic decedents were male
• In 2006, the work-related injury death rate for Hispanic workers was 5.0 per 100,000 Hispanic workers, compared with rates of 4.0 for all workers, 4.0 for non-Hispanic white workers, and 3.7 for non-Hispanic black workers.
• During 2003--2006, the work-related injury death rate for foreign-born Hispanic workers was 5.9, compared with a rate of 3.5 for U.S.-born Hispanic workers.
• Work-related homicides among Hispanics decreased 37 percent from 1992 to 2006, while the number of falls to a lower level increased approximately 370 percent during the same period.

Characteristics that contributed to higher numbers of work-related injury deaths among Hispanic workers included inadequate knowledge and control of recognized safety hazards and inadequate training and supervision of workers, often exacerbated by different languages and literacy levels of workers.

The conclusion to the report suggested the following actions to help prevent work-related injury deaths among Hispanics:

• Employers should take additional responsibility for providing a safe work environment.
• Safety and health agencies should provide employers of Hispanic workers with safety information and ensure compliance with existing regulations.
• Researchers and health communication professionals should develop additional materials that are culturally appropriate and effective for workers who speak different languages and have varying levels of literacy. In addition, labor unions, community groups, and workers themselves can contribute to research and prevention measures.

A copy of the CDC report is available at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5722a1.htm?s_cid=mm5722a1_e.

COPYRIGHT ©2008, ISO Services Properties, Inc.

The information contained in this publication was obtained from sources believed to be reliable. ISO Services Properties, Inc., its companies and employees make no guarantee of results and assume no liability in connection with either the information herein contained or the safety suggestions herein made. Moreover, it cannot be assumed that every acceptable safety procedure is contained herein or that abnormal or unusual circumstances may not warrant or require further or additional procedure.