Workplace deaths rise in California, nation

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/29/BAE710D82V.DTL

Tyche Hendricks, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

The number of workplace deaths is rising again in California and nationally after a steady decline during the past decade. The fatality rate is especially high for immigrants, particularly those from Latin America, according to federal data.

In 2006, the most recent year for which statistics are available, 5,840 people nationwide suffered fatal injuries on the job, according to an analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released Monday by the AFL-CIO. Almost 10 percent of the deaths were in California, and Latinos nationwide were 25 percent more likely to be killed in the workplace than workers overall, the report found.

"One of the reasons there's a sharp increase is that Latino workers are in the most dangerous industries and jobs and they're often exploited by employers, with little or no protection," said Rachele Huennekens, a spokeswoman for the AFL-CIO.

The report found that the most dangerous industries were agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting - with 30 deaths per 100,000 workers. Mining had 28 deaths per 100,000 workers and transportation and warehousing had 17 deaths per 100,000.

Although construction wasn't ranked among the most dangerous industries - with 11 deaths per 100,000 - more construction workers died, 1,239, from workplace injuries than workers in any other industry.

Last year a laundry worker for the Cintas Corp. in Oklahoma named Eleazar Torres-Gomez was killed after he freed a jammed-up wad of wet blue jeans on a conveyor belt and fell into the industrial dryer with the clothes.

FULL story at link.