Report Raises Concerns Over Surge in Hispanic Construction Worker Fatalities

A report revealed by the Heart for Building Analysis and Coaching discovered fatalities amongst Hispanic development staff greater than doubled from 2011-2022, underscoring jobsite coaching inequalities, based on some workforce and security advocates.

The middle examined knowledge from the Census of Deadly Occupational Accidents and the IPUMS Present Inhabitants Survey and recognized 408 fatalities amongst Hispanic staff in a December 2024 report entitled Hispanic Construction Workers: Employment, Business Ownership. 

The fatalities marked a 107.1% enhance, with deaths amongst non-Hispanic development staff rising 16.5% over the identical interval, from 583 to 679, based on knowledge. From 2021 to 2022, Hispanic development staff additionally accounted for 34.5% of nonfatal accidents involving days away from work and 47.3% of nonfatal accidents requiring days of job switch or restriction.

Challenges growing danger of damage amongst Hispanic development staff embrace language boundaries, lack of coaching supplies accessible in Spanish or different native languages, and lack of security assets and coaching, the report outlined. 

“These findings reinforce why the trade should prioritize pre-employment and pre-apprenticeship coaching,” stated Greg Sizemore, Related Builders and Contractors’ vice chairman of well being, security, surroundings and workforce improvement. He added that “merely placing development staff on the job is just not sufficient.”

Sizemore pointed to ABC’s STEP Health and Safety Management System as one such useful resource that encourages contractors to holistically curate security measures all the way down to the person wants. 

“STEP goes past observable security behaviors, embracing a whole-person method to well-being,” he added.

The proportion of Hispanic development staff elevated from 16.5% in 2000 to 34% in 2023, based on knowledge collected by CPWR, with drywall set up (75.2%), roofing (63.9%) and portray (62.5%) among the many highest representations of Hispanic staff.

“The truth that fatalities amongst Latine development staff greater than doubled within the final decade is a tragedy and a disaster, exposing a systemic failure to deal with deep inequalities in office security on this nation,” stated Ligia Guallpa, government director of Employee’s Justice Undertaking, which advocates for elevated immigrant employee rights and gives security coaching to enhance working circumstances.

“Latine staff fill essential workforce gaps whereas disproportionately dealing with essentially the most harmful working circumstances,” Guallpa added. “They achieve this with little entry to coaching or work protections, weak enforcement and worry of retaliation in the event that they converse up.”

Language boundaries and a scarcity of oversight have created environments the place immigrant staff are afraid to talk up about questions of safety out of worry of being reprimanded, added Guallpa.

“It’s additionally the explanation that we empower immigrant staff to struggle for systemic modifications in enforcement, regulation and trade requirements—as a result of systemic failures of this sort require collective employee energy to carry industries accountable,” stated Guallpa.