Comparison of Fatality Data by Ethnic Group Within North Carolina Construction Industry

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate Occupational Fatality Investigation Review (OFIR) data to compare fatality data by ethnic groups in different construction trades in the North Carolina construction industry from 2000 to 2004. This research involves the estimation of the number of employees in each construction trade broken down by ethnic group using the data from the annual American Community Survey. It also requires the calculation of fatality rates by ethnic group within each construction trade according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data and procedures. The results show an overall increasing trend of Hispanic employment in construction, a decreasing trend in White employment and a somewhat constant trend in the Black employment. The overall fatality rates for minority groups in construction were about two times that of White laborers. The overall Hispanic fatality rate was essentially equal to that of Black employees. The occupation with the highest fatality rate in North Carolina, Construction Laborer, also had the largest percentage of minorities. The sparse data for many occupations makes firm conclusions. The lack of comparable occupation classification systems between the different sources of data and changes in the classification system created difficulty in the analysis.