Construction-related deaths among Hispanic workers more than doubled over a 12-year period
A report published by the Center for Construction Research and Training found fatalities among Hispanic construction workers more than doubled from 2011-2022, underscoring jobsite training inequalities, according to some workforce and safety advocates.
The Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) examined data from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries and the IPUMS Current Population Survey and identified 408 fatalities among Hispanic workers in a December 2024 report entitled Hispanic Construction Workers: Employment, Business Ownership.
The fatalities marked a 107.1% increase, with deaths among non-Hispanic construction workers rising 16.5% over the same period, from 583 to 679, according to data. From 2021 to 2022, Hispanic construction workers also accounted for 34.5% of nonfatal injuries involving days away from work and 47.3% of nonfatal injuries requiring days of job transfer or restriction.
Challenges increasing risk of injury among Hispanic construction workers include language barriers, lack of training materials available in Spanish or other native languages, and lack of safety resources and training, the report outlined.
"These findings reinforce why the industry must prioritize pre-employment and pre-apprenticeship training," said Greg Sizemore, Associated Builders and Contractors' vice president of health, safety, environment and workforce development. He added that "simply putting construction workers on the job is not enough."
Sizemore pointed to ABC's STEP Health and Safety Management System as one such resource that encourages contractors to holistically curate safety measures down to the individual needs.
"STEP goes beyond observable safety behaviors, embracing a whole-person approach to well-being," he added.
The percentage of Hispanic construction workers increased from 16.5% in 2000 to 34% in 2023, according to data collected by CPWR, with drywall installation (75.2%), roofing (63.9%) and painting (62.5%) among the highest representations of Hispanic workers.
"The fact that fatalities among Latine construction workers more than doubled in the last decade is a tragedy and a crisis, exposing a systemic failure to address deep inequalities in workplace safety in this country," said Ligia Guallpa, executive director of Worker's Justice Project, which advocates for increased immigrant worker rights and provides safety training to improve working conditions.
"Latine workers fill critical workforce gaps while disproportionately facing the most dangerous working conditions," Guallpa added. "They do so with little access to training or work protections, weak enforcement and fear of retaliation if they speak up."
Language barriers and a lack of oversight have created environments where immigrant workers are afraid to speak up about safety issues out of fear of being reprimanded, added Guallpa.
"It's also the reason that we empower immigrant workers to fight for systemic changes in enforcement, regulation and industry standards -- because systemic failures of this kind require collective worker power to hold industries accountable," said Guallpa.