Study: Many job deaths are immigrants
Fatalities out of proportion, '05 data shows
With the nation locked in debate over immigrant rights, a new study found that immigrant workers accounted for a disproportionate number of workplace fatalities in Massachusetts last year.
Advocacy groups said an alarming new trend underscored immigrant workers' plight: Two died last year installing the bulky granite countertops favored in many kitchens, the fifth granite-related death in New England in the last two years.
The study, to be released today by local labor union groups, follows a scaffolding collapse in downtown Boston on April 3 that killed three people, including an immigrant from Brazil, and brought renewed attention to worker safety.
Today, union workers plan to lay a wreath at the Boylston Street site of the accident. A federal investigation into the collapse is underway, as is an inquiry by state lawmakers that could result in sweeping changes to state workplace regulation.
The study, by the Massachusetts AFL-CIO and the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Heath, analyzed the 78 worker deaths in the state last year, finding:
The 78 deaths last year constituted the third highest tally since the local AFL-CIO began studying workplace fatalities in 1995. The authors did not begin focusing on deaths of recent immigrants until 2004, when 16 died.
One of the workers killed in the scaffolding collapse was 27-year-old Romildo Silva, a hard-working Brazilian arrival who dreamed of one day opening a hair salon. Last year, 38-year-old Valdecir Rodrigues, also from Brazil, was crushed to death installing a granite counter in Marlborough.
''Immigrants, quite frankly, are falling into the highest-risk jobs. And they find themselves without the training and safety precautions necessary," said Ali Noorani, executive director for the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition.
State Senator Jarrett T. Barrios, the Cambridge Democrat leading the legislative committee exploring construction safety overhaul, said his Latino roots made him all the more determined to change current regulations, which he said are filled with loopholes that leave most construction sites unmonitored. He also said that immigration status -- many workers here are undocumented -- makes risky work even riskier because workers are afraid to raise safety issues.
Robert L. Petrucelli, president and CEO of the Associated General Contractors of Massachusetts, which represents the majority of the commercial construction companies in the state, said bilingual worker training is the key to lowering immigrant deaths. His association this week launched its first series of worker safety classes in Spanish.
Others said beefing up enforcement by OSHA is crucial. Nancy Lessin, health and safety coordinator for the Massachusetts AFL-CIO and author of the study, said an average fine of $14,065 for safety violations would not compel firms to tighten safety measures at work sites.
''That's pocket change for these companies," she said.
A spokesman for OSHA declined to comment on the report.
Beyond the immigrant angle, the report offered details on all 78 workplace deaths last year, a series of crushings, falls, and collisions often overlooked in media reports until the scaffold tragedy earlier this month.
''When in the middle of the city, you have such a dramatic accident, it's gotten people's attention," said Robert J. Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.
One casualty of a workplace accident, Paul R. King of Malden, would have celebrated his 51st birthday last week. He was electrocuted last July on the job as a maintenance contractor at Logan International Airport.
His daughter, Melissa King, 23, of Malden, plans to speak today at a State House rally, and has become active in promoting worker safety.
''We're hoping that no family has to go through what we went though," she said. ''Something has to change."
Raja Mishra can be reached at rmishra@globe.com. 
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
