Construction Safety Summit in Houston Stresses on Worker Education, Empowerment

Houston played host to a Latino worker health and safety summit today. The National Action Summit for Latino Worker Health and Safety came at an especially poignant time, barely a few days after it was confirmed that 29 miners had died in a mine explosion in West Virginia. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, who addressed the summit, spoke of enhancing worker education and awareness as a means of preventing workplace injuries and fatalities.

The summit was especially aimed at increasing awareness among Latino workers about their rights in the workplace. The state of Texas has large numbers of immigrant workers, and many of these work in the construction industry. Texas' construction safety record is a major concern to Houston construction accident lawyers. The state ranks at first place in the number of construction worker fatalities in the country.

Many of the workers, who are injured or killed in construction and other workplace accidents in Texas every year, are Latinos who may have little awareness of their rights. That must change, Secretary Solis said.

Another issue that is of great concern to Houston industrial accident lawyers and which came up at the summit, was the issue of more and more employers using contractors at their facilities, especially at Texas' oil refineries. Again, it's mainly non-English speaking, poor immigrants who are at the highest risk of being exploited here. Many of these workers may not even be aware that they have been classified as independent contractors, and therefore, may not be eligible for workers compensation payouts from their employer in case of an injury. Such contractors are not included in injury data, and may be completely helpless after an injury.

OSHA is also taking a look at company incentive programs that reward employees if a worksite is free of accidents for a certain period of time. According to the agency, programs like these could dissuade workers from reporting safety violations, and could be a violation of agency regulations.