Like a lot of workers, construction workers aren’t seen by most people going to and from work, home or whatever else they happen to be doing–until a construction worker dies some horrible death. Their deaths are, I think, shrugged off as the inevitable cost of "progress" and "economic activity". But, these deaths do not have to be inevitable–even as they appear to be increasing in numbers, according to data just made available. Yesterday, another construction worker lost his life–for progress.
His name was Kevin Kelly. He was just 25-years old. He was installing windows in a condominium tower in Manhattan–one of those nice shiny buildings springing up all around New York because our mayor cares mostly about leaving a legacy of lots of nice, shiny buildings–even if most of the people in the city can’t afford to live in those nice, shiny buildings.
Kelly was single and living with his father. The story in The New York Times says this:
He was described by a neighbor, Rita Meyers, as an outgoing man who had held a succession of jobs before he went to work installing windows about two years ago.
"He is a very friendly kid," Ms. Meyers said. "He finally got settled into what he wanted to do."
Now, the important thing about the story is this–his death could have been prevented. A safety strap failed–and he lost his life. And the contractor had a awful record:
Contractors at the site of the 30 story tower, the Laurel, 400 East 67th Street at First Avenue, had been cited by city inspectors for 25 code violations during the last year, city officials said.
Patricia J. Lancaster, the city’s commissioner of buildings, said that Mr. Kelly’s fall remained under investigation, but that "a failure of the safety strap connecting the worker to the concrete ceiling played a role." Late Monday, the Buildings Department said the entire strap had pulled out of its steel and concrete mooring, and remained attached to his harness when he fell.
And…
Department officials said that 25 of the citations were issued since work on the building began in April 2007, and that the others were issued during demolition and other work to prepare for the construction.
The department said the contractors and developers of the project had been ordered to pay $25,690 in fines for 23 of the 25 violations. It said Monday night that all but one of the past violations had been corrected. It said the one unresolved violation involved failure by a contractor to provide design drawings for a sidewalk scaffold shed.
The department’s Web site indicated that the violations had included things like failure to provide safety nets, which are required to prevent debris or workers from falling, and to install standpipes, which are designed to pump water to combat high-rise fires.
The department said it cited the project for five new violations on Monday after the accident, including failing to safeguard the public and having damaged safety netting on the 23rd, 24th and 25th floors.
This isn’t anything new. At least in New York City, I’ve felt for sometime that something is getting a lot worse. A few weeks, we had another–I don’t know how else to call it–mass killing of construction workers.
A few thoughts now. First, it sickens me to watch politicians rush to the seen of these accidents and express their outrage:
On Monday, Representative Carolyn B. Maloney and Scott Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, criticized the Department of Buildings during a joint visit to the accident site.
People like Stringer, and virtually every other citywide official, are drowning in real estate money, mainly in the form of contributions that help fuel their never-ending quest for elected office. They make deals that favor real estate interests and sell out average working people, and keep their mouths shut about what is obvious to the working stiffs–that a construction site is a place where safety is sacrificed for the sake of the go-go attitude that stinks up the whole business. Until there is a disaster–and, then, the politicians show up and express their outrage. Please. You are pathetic.
The data I mentioned above comes from an extremely dense but rich source: The Construction Chart Book of the The Center for Construction Research and Training. Yes, I know, it just rolls off your tongue like butter. Now, because of the way the data is collected by the industry, the stats in the 2008 book just release a few days ago only goes up to 2005–but the trend I think is pretty current and indicative of what is up in the U.S.
Here are some nuggets:
In 2005, the construction industry shared 1,243 (21.7%) of the total
5,734 work-related deaths from injuries in the United States, which
is disproportionately high given that construction employment
counted for 8% of the overall workforce. When comparisons were
made among major industries, construction had the fourth highest
death rate in 2005 (chart 32a). The death rate for construction was
11.1 per 100,000 full-time workers,1nearly three times the average
rate of 4.2 per 100,000 full-time workers for all industries.
And…
The rates of work-related deaths in construction are
not as high as in agriculture and mining, but the rates of nonfatal
injuries and illnesses in construction exceeded that for other
goods-producing industries over time.
But, here is the key–it doesn’t have to be this way. Our government, at all levels, has decided that a certain level of people dying on the construction job is acceptable–and is even doing less than it used to. We’re all familiar by now with the joke that is called the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA).
The number of OSHA construction inspections has
decreased while the number of construction employers has
increased. The number of inspections dropped in the mid-1990s,
although it went up in 1997 and has increased slightly since that
time (chart 47c). However, the 22,935 inspections performed in
2006 is actually 26% lower than the 31,073 in 1988. Meanwhile,
the number of construction establishments (with payroll)
increased about 47%, from 536,277 in 1987 to 787,672 in 2005.
No wonder people die on the job–and, before, anyone jumps up and down with a partisan accusation, this has been a problem in Democratic and Republican Administrations. Sure, Republicans have done a lot to make it worse but, in a lot of ways, it’s a structural problem–we accept the idea of death and injury as a cost of doing business because we leave the power to guarantee a safe workplace in the hands of employers.
Do you think it is just dumb luck that has Sweden listed as a much safer place to work in construction (The U.S., according to the Chart Book, has 2.5 times more deaths in construction than Sweden)? No, it’s because in Sweden workers are given on-site authority to stop work if they detect unsafe conditions–without penalties or the threat of losing their jobs because some abusive supervisor doesn’t give a hoot about safety.
And, to state the obvious, the weaker state of the labor movement is an obvious cause for the unsafe conditions at construction sites, not to mention work generally.
I’m curious–what is happening in your city or community? Do you detect a lot more unsafe conditions for construction workers?
