Hispanic workers are more likely to die on the job -- especially foreign-born Hispanic workers -- than workers of any other ethnicity, according to an interesting new study released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The on-the-job death rate for Hispanic workers was 5.0 per 100,000 from 1992-2006, compared to 4.0 per 100,000 for workers overall. A look at deaths from 2003-06 showed foreign-born Hispanic workers had a death rate of 5.9 per 100,000, compared to 3.5 for Hispanic workers born in this country. Almost all the deaths were among men, with the greatest percentage of them in construction.

Over the 14-year period, deaths from homicides (a category that startled me, since I don't think of people getting murdered on construction sites) fell pretty steadily, while deaths attributed to work-related highway accidents, falls or being struck by an object steadily increased.

New Mexico was one of 21 states studied in the 2003-06 time period. It showed 70 work-related deaths among Hispanics, a 5.1 rate that was a little above the 4.9 average. The percentage of those workers who were foreign-born, though, was only 34 percent -- way below the other states.

Most people think the reasons Hispanic death rates are higher is that they tend to concentrate in the more dangerous jobs, such as construction. Since their death rates were higher than other workers in comparable jobs, though, the study authors speculated that language barriers, inadequate safety training and other issues might be the cause.

Your Name:

Your Email Address:

Rate this article:
Poor Great

Comment:

BOLD

"QUOTE"

UNDERLINE