DESPITE RECENT WORKER DEATHS, NUMBERS DOWN
Author: JEFF OSTROWSKI, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

In spite of a spate of high-profile worker deaths in recent months, federal regulators insist Florida is becoming a safer place to work.
The number of workplace fatalities in 10 South Florida counties is likely to drop this year to its lowest point in recent memory, said Luis Santiago, who runs the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration's operations in an area that stretches from Vero Beach to Miami to Naples.
While OSHA typically investigates more than 50 deaths a year in that territory, the total for the year that ends Sept. 30 is likely to be fewer than 40, Santiago said.
Santiago on Wednesday attended a meeting of the Safety Council of Palm Beach County to announce an education alliance with employers. He attributed what he called a "tremendous reduction" in deaths to OSHA's stricter enforcement of safety rules and better training of employers and workers.
Even so, construction and agricultural jobs remain dangerous. A building collapse at a construction site in Hobe Sound last week killed two workers and injured several others, while an April van crash on Interstate 95 in St. Lucie County killed nine farmworkers. Also last week, a 23-year-old construction worker died in Port Salerno after accidentally shooting himself in the chest with a nail gun.
"(Workplace deaths) are still happening, and we have a long way to go," Santiago said. Indeed, a Palm Beach Post analysis of workplace fatalities from 1992 through 2002 (the last year for which state and federal statistics are available) shows 408 workers died on the job in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties. The death rates during those 11 years ranged from 0.54 deaths per 100,000 workers in Palm Beach County to 0.92 in St. Lucie County, higher than the state average of 0.48 deaths per 100,000 workers.
Meanwhile, OSHA and the Safety Council will begin offering "Safety As a Second Language," a course to help Spanish-speaking workers. About two-thirds of workers who die on the job are Hispanic, Santiago said, in part because immigrants are eager to take on dangerous jobs in construction and agriculture.
"They are exposing themselves to risks that others are not," Santiago said.
Santiago promised Wednesday to work more closely with employers to offer courses on safety. And he said OSHA will shift its focus from training managers to training front-line workers. jeff_ostrowski@pbpost.com

Recent fatal accidents:

• July 22: A building collapse at a Hobe Sound construction site kills two.
• July 22: A 23-year-old Orlando man dies after accidentally shooting himself in the chest with a nail gun at a Port Salerno construction site.
• June 8: Van filled with 11 migrant workers rolls over on I-95 in St. Lucie County. Two die.
• April 1: Van filled with 18 migrant workers rolls over on I-95 in St. Lucie County. Nine die.

DEATH RISK LURKS FOR WORKERS IN FLORIDA
Author: JEFF OSTROWSKI, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Ask Maria Luisa Alegria whether she worried when her husband went off to work at a construction site every day, and she simply says, "Claro." Of course. After 10 accident-free years at Florida construction sites, Alegria's husband, Alejandro Pacheco, was hurt seriously July 22 when the Hobe Sound townhouse he was helping to build collapsed. Two of his co-workers, Lauro Marquez Hernandez, 23, and Gregorio Ruiz Avilez, 31, died in the mishap. Although the men's deaths captured the attention of federal and state regulators and the media, such incidents are far from rare, a stark reality Alegria intuitively grasped. Indeed, 3,904 workers died on the job in Florida from 1992 through 2002, according to an analysis of state data by The Palm Beach Post. And in 2002, Florida's 354 deaths made it the third-deadliest state for workers, behind only California and Texas, in total numbers. But Florida's death rate of 4.4 fatalities per 100,000 workers that year was higher than Texas' 3.8 and California's 2.8 deaths per 100,000 workers, meaning Florida workers were more likely to die on the job. Many of them worked in construction and agriculture, two crucial but dangerous industries that drive both the state's economy and its workplace accident statistics. Too often, safety experts say, workers die because of the lack of simple safety steps. Farm workers die when crowded vans, some not equipped with seat belts, crash during trips to and from the fields. Construction workers plunge to their deaths in falls that could have been broken by safety harnesses, better scaffolds or railings along the edges of the unfinished floors of condo and office towers. "They're all avoidable, and that's the tragedy of it," says Mark Ligon, the risk manager at Carpenter Contractors of America Inc. in Pompano Beach. "Many companies won't make the investment in safety." Ligon says his company has all but eliminated falls by upgrading its scaffolds and by making safety a priority. But, he says, employers that ignore safety find a willing workforce. Many of the Florida workers who die on the job are Hispanic immigrants who came here looking for better lives for their families - and eagerly take the most dangerous jobs. Hernandez and Ruiz sent their earnings to their families in Mexico. Pacheco, 31, left his hometown just north of Mexico City 10 years ago to move to Florida, his wife says. Some willing to take risk For a decade Pacheco worked construction with no accidents, until that day last month when he was part of a crew pouring concrete at the Tranquility townhouses. After two weeks in the hospital, Pacheco is recovering from a broken pelvis and a head injury and has begun to speak, Alegria says. It's unlikely he'll recover enough to return to a construction job, his attorney says. Pacheco told his wife he was unsure what went wrong at the job site, where the shell of a townhouse fell as the third floor concrete was poured. Investigators are trying to determine what caused the accident. A Martin County building official said two weeks ago that the concrete was too heavy and was poured too quickly. The owner of Macs Construction and Concrete, which employed Pacheco, Hernandez and Ruiz, disputed that claim and said his company did nothing wrong. The state Division of Workers Compensation has halted Macs' projects after finding the company had not bought workers compensation insurance for the three men hurt in Hobe Sound. Sunrise Engineer Gary Elzweig, who visited the site of the Tranquility project Aug. 12, said the design, installation and inspection of supports that failed in the accident are the focus of the probe. Because state law does not require the detailed plans and inspections that would have been mandatory on a building just one story taller, he said opportunities to catch mistakes before the disaster were probably missed. The accident was the latest in a steady stream of workplace tragedies that have grabbed the attention of regulators at the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Even before last month's building collapse, the agency had stepped up its enforcement raids and efforts to teach employers and workers about safety. "The collapse of this building is a typical example of what we're trying to prevent," says Luis Santiago, area director for the OSHA office that covers a territory from Vero Beach to Miami to Naples. Santiago insists he's making progress. While OSHA typically investigates more than 50 deaths a year in its 10-county territory in South Florida, the total for the year that ends Sept. 30 is likely to be fewer than 40 - which Santiago called "a tremendous reduction." Even so, the death toll continues to mount. An April crash on Interstate 95 in St. Lucie County killed nine farm workers who were on their way home from the citrus groves; they were riding in a van leased by their employer. And the same day the building fell in Hobe Sound, Milton Trejo, a 23-year-old construction worker from Orlando, died in Port Salerno after accidentally shooting himself in the chest with a nail gun while climbing a ladder on a job site. The Post's analysis of workplace fatalities from 1992 through 2002 (the last year for which state and federal statistics are available) shows no significant decrease in deaths during that period. During that time, 408 workers died on the job in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties - with all three ranking among the top 10 in the state. The death rates during those 11 years ranged from 5.4 deaths per 100,000 workers in Palm Beach County to 9.2 deaths per 100,000 workers in St. Lucie County, higher than the state average of 4.8 deaths per 100,000 workers. Labor leaders and safety experts say it's no surprise that Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast have high numbers of workplace fatalities, given the area's combination of construction sites and farms. "Palm Beach County has the largest number of farm workers of any county, and agriculture is one of the most dangerous industries," says Tirso Moreno, general coordinator of the Farm worker Association of Florida. Many agricultural deaths occur in van accidents as workers ride to or from fields. The problem is far from new. Seven Guatemalan farm workers died in a wreck in 1991 near South Bay, an accident that drew national attention to the rickety vehicles that transport workers. The workers were on their way to plant sugar cane at a field owned by Okeelanta Corp. Little has changed in the 13 years since that fatal crash, Moreno says. Labor leaders call on the government for tougher enforcement. Yet OSHA officials acknowledge they lack the inspectors to visit every high-risk job site as often as they wish. Santiago says the agency uses a combination of enforcement raids, when OSHA plays the tough cop, and educational programs, where the agency tries a gentler approach. In some cases, Santiago says, the blame lies with irresponsible employers. "There are some employers who don't think human life is something they should value," Santiago says. But he says cultural differences play a role, too. Hispanic immigrants often arrive without safety training and are willing to take risks to please a boss. "These individuals culturally have a different behavior than we expect here in the States," Santiago says. "It's, 'My boss tells me what to do. I will do it, even if I don't know how.' " Ligon, of the Carpenter Contractors, says not only Hispanic immigrants are willing to cut safety corners. Many construction workers think they're too tough to get hurt, so they forget their hard hats or neglect to anchor their safety harnesses, he says. "It's hot. It's hard work," Ligon says. "It attracts the guys with that tough-guy bravado." Shift focus to safety Meanwhile, Nick Mastroianni, the developer of the Hobe Sound townhouse project, says he stressed safety at the site. Mastroianni says he had safety meetings twice a week and nagged workers to remember little things such as using their hard hats and wearing proper clothing. Still, he was shocked to learn that the 13-year-old son of a Macs employee was on the site when the accident happened. The boy was not hurt. OSHA, for its part, has only so much authority over employers. The maximum fine it can levy against an employer is $70,000 for the most egregious offenses. OSHA had fined Macs Construction a total of $12,250 for safety violations at five jobs since 2002. Those transgressions included a 2002 job in Orlando, where Macs was cited for fall-protection violations on two occasions, and a February job in Fort Lauderdale, where it was fined for six violations regarding respiratory protection and noise exposure. Worker advocates acknowledge that federal regulators can go only so far. They urge employers to look at workers as more than easily replaced cogs in the operation. "We're human beings," farm workers organizer Moreno says, "and it should be different." jeff_ostrowski@pbpost.com

Deadly work From 1992 through 2002, Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties had workplace death rates that were above the state average:

                                Number of    Death rate/
       Rank      Location        deaths    100,000 workers

                 Florida          3,904        4.8

         1.      Hendry              20       18.8

         2.      Okeechobee          18       13.9

         3.      Collier             99        9.6

         4.      St. Lucie           80        9.2

         5.      Martin              30        6.8

         6.      Indian River        28        6.3

         7.      Osceola             50        6.2

         8.      Polk               132        5.8

         9.      Miami-Dade         641        5.4

         10.     Palm Beach         298        5.4

         11.     Lee                107        5.4

         12.     Duval              216        5.1

         13.     Volusia             83        4.2

         14.     Orange             205        3.9

         15.     Manatee             50        3.9

         16.     Broward            334        3.9

         17.     Brevard             89        3.8

         18.     Hillsborough       217        3.7

         19.     Sarasota            57        3.6

         20.     Pinellas           139        2.7

Number of Death rate/
Rank Location deaths 100,000 workers

Florida 3,904 4.8

1. Hendry 20 18.8
2. Okeechobee 18 13.9
3. Collier 99 9.6
4. St. Lucie 80 9.2
5. Martin 30 6.8
6. Indian River 28 6.3
7. Osceola 50 6.2
8. Polk 132 5.8
9. Miami-Dade 641 5.4
10. Palm Beach 298 5.4
11. Lee 107 5.4
12. Duval 216 5.1
13. Volusia 83 4.2
14. Orange 205 3.9
15. Manatee 50 3.9
16. Broward 334 3.9
17. Brevard 89 3.8
18. Hillsborough 217 3.7
19. Sarasota 57 3.6
20. Pinellas 139 2.7

Source: Florida Division of Workers Compensation, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Palm Beach Post research

Note: Number of deaths unavailable for some years for Martin, Indian River, Okeechobee, Hendry and Osceola counties.

Palm Beach Post, The (FL)
July 29, 2004