| Uncertain safety for Latino workers |
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| Sunday, 02 March 2008 | |
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CHICAGO TRIBUNE They were working on a sloped roof without hard hats or safety harnesses, hired off a Chicago street corner for $10 an hour, when Mario Lopez stepped on a loose board and tumbled down through a fire-gutted three-story house and landed in the basement. His spine was broken, his pelvis shattered. Today, 33-year-old Lopez cannot walk without a walker, lift his arms or even feel his fingertips. He cannot sit or stand for long. "I can't do anything," he said with slow, sad shake of his head. Yet he can be thankful he is alive. Hundreds of Latino workers across the U.S. die annually in construction accidents, a toll that has mounted steadily. Two years ago 354 Latinos were killed in construction accidents, a 34 percent increase over 2003, the most recent government statistics show. More than one out of three Latinos killed on the job in 2006 lost their lives doing construction work, a far higher proportion than for white or black workers.
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