Hispanic Workers Have Higher Risk of Death on the Job

The death rate for Hispanic workers is consistently higher than the rate for other U.S. workers, with nearly 35 percent of those deaths occurring in the construction industry, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report, “Work-Related Injury Deaths Among Hispanics – United States, 1992-2006,” noted that the death rate for Hispanics decreased during the period studied. However, it indicated that “additional efforts are needed to reduce the risk for death among Hispanic workers because of projected increases in their employment, involvement in work with high risk for injury, susceptibility to miscommunication caused by language differences, and other potential risks associated with culture and economic status.”

For the report, the CDC, Bureau of Labor Statistics and other state agencies analyzed data from 1992 to 2006, making note of 11,303 work-related injuries. The median age of decedents was 35, compared to a median age of 42 for all workers. Approximately 95 percent were male. Foreign-born Hispanic workers were at especially high risk.

The CDC said its in-depth investigations suggested that “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,” contributed to the higher number of work-related injury deaths among Hispanic workers.

For more information, visit www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5722a1.htm.

Source: CDC

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