News News Archive Email A Friend March 25, 2024 California Division of Workers' Compensation Posts Adjustments to Official Medical Fee Schedule (Physician Services / Non-Physician Practitioner Services) March 19, 2024 Nearly half of all litigated workers' compensation claims in the Los Angeles basin are cumulative trauma claims. March 7, 2024 California's Division of Workers' Compensation Posts Adjustment to Official Medical Fee Schedule (Ambulance Services) March 6, 2024 Accident Claims The Life of AdminSure Claims Adjuster Alexis Wicker
| | Hispanic Workers In South Carolina Suffer From Highest Death Rate in United States By Pauline Grant - June 6, 2008The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released findings Thursday that South Carolina had the nation's highest on-the-job death rate for Hispanic workers between 2003 and 2006.
During that time period, 51 Hispanic workers died on the job in South Caroline, a rate of 22.8 per 100,000 workers, the Centers for Disease Control reported using Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The number doubled that of Oklahoma, which had the second highest rate in the United States. Most of the injuries were due to falls, and sixty-three percent of the deaths were in the construction industry.
Causes are speculated to be because new immigrants are moving to work in construction, which has a higher risk, as the same study found that 88 percent of the Hispanics who died while at work in South Carolina were foreign-born. But Hispanic leaders believe the problem also lies in communication. By improving communication and educating workers in safety while printing instructions and safety warnings in both Spanish and English, they cite that the number of injuries and deaths can be reduced.
"The message has to be more clear and direct," said Luisa Moreno, executive director of the Hispanic Contractors Association of the Carolinas, based in Charlotte, N.C. "The association has regular safety fairs that aim to teach workers how to stay safe on the job site," she said.
For five consecutive years, South Carolina has recorded the fastest growing Hispanic population in the nation. The South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation "created a Spanish job safety training program for the construction and landscaping industries in 2005," said Jim Knight, a department spokesman, "And since that time, we've seen the death rate amoung Hispanics steadily decline." |