The News Tribune of Tacoma, Washington recently featured an excellent – albeit unsettling – article entitled Construction workers
Posts Tagged ‘occupational deaths’
Three construction workers die every day in the U.S.
Thursday, December 9th, 2004Workplace deaths increased in 2003
Thursday, September 30th, 2004Workplace fatalities rose in 2003 to a total of 5,559 deaths, according to the Department of Labor. Here’s a breakdown from the DOL report about the industry segments with the most deaths.
The construction industry had the most deaths – 1,126, followed by 805 deaths in the transportation and warehousing sector.
When the number of workers in each industry was considered, the highest death rate was in the sector of agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, with 31.2 deaths per 100,000 workers. Mining was next, with a rate of 26.9 per 100,000 workers. Construction’s rate was 11.7, and transportation and warehousing’s was 17.5.
The most frequent work-related deaths were on highways – 1,350 last year, compared with 1,373 in 2002.
Texas had 491 job-related deaths last year, earning the dubious distinction of being the state with the highest rate of increase for work-related fatalities. Texas increased by 17.7 percent in 2003, while the national number of fatalities increased by less than one percent compared to 2002.
One of the other trends that the Department of Labor data indicates is that Hispanic workers died on the job more frequently than others, with a rate of 4.5 deaths per 100,000 compared to a rate of 4.0 for whites and 3.7 for blacks.
We’ve posted about the high death rate for Mexican workers before. A recent disturbing report by the News & Observer of Raleigh depicts illegal practices in camps for migrant farm workers in North Carolina. When you read about the shocking and flagrant practices – it’s almost unbelievable to think such abuses occur in the United States – it’s not hard to understand why the death rate is so high.
North Carolina farmers have a legal pipeline to foreign workers, known as the federal H-2A program. But the number of H-2A workers has fallen 15 percent since 2002, from about 10,000 to 8,500 this year. Growers say the rising costs associated with the program have contributed to the decline.
H-2A workers in North Carolina are entitled to a wage of $8.06 an hour, workers compensation and round-trip travel reimbursement. In July, the Ohio-based Farm Labor Organizing Committee began a campaign to unionize H-2A workers.
Instead, farms increasingly find workers through labor contractors.
Whatever the industry, whatever the state, whatever the demographic group, it’s distressing to see work-related fatalities increase. It’s hard not to see a parallel with the “kinder, gentler” OSHA of recent years. As an industry, this is a trend we have to stop in its tracks.
R.I. Court Holds Nightclub Owners Personally Liable
Thursday, August 19th, 2004In a reversal of a prior Labor Department ruling, the Rhode Island Workers Compensation Court ruled that Michael and Jeff Derderian, owners of The Station nightclub, could be held personally liable for their failure to obtain workers compensation coverage for their employees. According to Insurance Journal:
“The ruling means that the brothers’ personal assets can be tapped to pay the more than $1 million fine levied against their company, Derco LLC, for not having the insurance in place when their nightclub burned, killing 100 people including four employees.
The ruling is under appeal. There is some legal wrangling going on about whether owners and managers of limited liability companies can be held personally responsible for fines and penalties. Suffice it to say that state authorities take a dim view of this type of employer fraud and penalties can be severe. Employers can be required to pay compensation plus a penalty for any injuries or deaths. Other penalties might include substantial fines or jail time. Also, because the employer has not held up their responsibilities under law, the “exclusive remedy” shield may be pierced, exposing the employer to civil suits.
Last week, we wrote about another case of on-the-job fatalities in Florida where the employer did not have workers compensation coverage. In this case, as they have done in other premium fraud cases, Florida authorities issued a stop work order, shutting the business down.
Many experts think that failure to secure workers compensation coverage may well be the largest single source of workers compensation fraud. And like all insurance fraud, it is often the honest insureds that pay the freight one way or another. In California, for example, caring for injured workers of uninsured employers costs the state almost $25 million a year. However, the parties that generally pay the steepest price for this type of fraud are the injured or deceased employees and their families.
More on this topic:
Workers’ Comp and the Station Nightclub – Workers Comp Insider archives, December 2003
Ohio Getting Tough on Premium Coverage – Workers Compensation archives, July 2004
Nolo’s Quick LLC: All You Need to Know About Limited Liabilities – Chapter 1 is available online
