Temporal Patterns in Work-Related Fatalities Among Foreign-Born Workers in the US, 1992–2007

Abstract

In the United States, approximately 20% of all workers who died on the job in 2007 were foreign-born. The objective of this study was to describe trends in occupational fatalities among foreign-born workers. An analysis of fatal injuries among foreign-born workers in the US occurring from 1992 through 2007 was conducted using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. Individual characteristics, employment characteristics, injury events and industry employment were summarized and evaluated for trends. Both the number and proportion of foreign-born workers who died from a traumatic work-related injury increased substantially over the time period studied. The proportion who were men, aged 25-44 years, Hispanic, non self-employed, employed by business establishments with 10 or fewer employees, working at private residences and working in Construction and Services consistently increased throughout the time period. While some trends among foreign-born decedents are improving, others are worsening. More comprehensive research efforts are needed to address the occupational injury and safety issues among foreign-born workers, with a focus on Hispanics.

Disparities in work-related homicide rates in selected retail industries in the United States, 2003–2008

“…It is reasonable that this change resulted in not only a more complete recording of the field, but a more accurate one as well. Although there is no way to test the validity of the variable, the findings reported in this paper are very similar to those seen in a previous analysis on foreign-born workers overall (Menéndez & Havea, 2011).…”

“…However, CFOI gets its data from multiple sources and instituted a change in how the variable was collected in 2001, which resulted in an approximately 15-20% increase in reported fatalities among foreign-born workers in the subsequent years (Menéndez & Havea, 2011). It is likely that a majority of this increase was due to the change in the collection of the variable, which involved selecting the country of birth from a drop down menu rather than typing it in.…”

Occupational injuries in workers from different ethnicities

“…Fatalities in Hispanics increased (54% to 60%) but decreased in non-Hispanics (44% to 38%) in the period of 1992-2007. [ 38 ] Also, high growth in proportion of fatalities (by 117%) was reported in foreign-born workers in that period of time. The highest increase in the number of fatalities was reported in mining sector (243%) followed by construction industry (344%).…”

Are Immigrants at Increased Risk of Occupational Injury? A Literature Review

“…Hispanics are the greatest group among immigrants. Their proportion in fatalities at work has consistently increased [45]. Twenty-eight percent of Latino poultry workers in North Carolina were involved in occupational injuries [46].…”