Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #105691

Scott Richardson, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries Program, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Room 3175, Washington, DC 20212, 202-691-6165, richardson_s@bls.gov

Foreign born workers in the U.S. now account for about 1 in 7 workers in the U.S., up from about 1 in 17 in 1960. The demographics of immigration has also changed, with Latin American immigrants accounting for about 1 in 4 immigrants to the U.S. in 2000 as compared to about 1 in 10 in 1960. Using data from the BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries program, a study was conducted to learn more about the prevalence and characteristics of fatal work injuries among foreign born workers. The study found a total of 6,570 fatal work injuries involving foreign born workers from 1996 through 2003 in the U.S. The number of fatal work injuries among foreign born workers rose from an average of 699 fatal work injuries per year for the three years between 1996 and 1998 to an annual average of about 938 fatal work injuries between 2001 and 2003. The relative risk of a fatal work injury for a foreign-born worker between 1997 and 2001 was nearly 20 percent higher than that for the average U.S. worker. Workers born in Latin America, however, had a risk of fatal injury that was 40 percent higher than the risk for the average U.S. worker. Overall, the most frequent manner of traumatic workplace death among foreign born workers was workplace homicide. Workers born in Mexico accounted for the highest number of fatal work injuries among foreign born workers—about two out of every five fatalities.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the primary types of fatal work events involving foreign-born wokers.
• Descibe the differences in the fatal work injury experience of foreign-born workers as compared to native-born workers.
• Articulate some of the major trends in immigration that led to the growth and current demography of foreign-born workers in the U.S.
• Decribe the differences in fatal work injuries of foreign-born workers by region and country of birth.

Keywords: Immigrants, Occupational Injury and Death

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.