Texas leaders crowed Friday about the state’s latest job-growth statistics. “The Texas economic engine is strong,” Workforce Commission Chairman Andres Alcantar said.
But growth isn’t the whole story.
More workers die here than in any other state. On average, a Texas worker is 12 percent more likely to be killed on the job than someone doing the same job elsewhere, according to a Dallas Morning News analysis of federal data.
That translates to about 580 excess workplace deaths over a decade.
Construction has contributed mightily to Texas’ booming economy. And the state’s construction sites are 22 percent deadlier than the national average.
Forty percent of Texas’ excess death toll was among roofers, electricians and others in specialty construction trades. Such workers are sometimes treated as independent contractors, leaving them responsible for their own safety equipment and training. Many are undocumented immigrants.
Government and industry here have invested relatively little in safety equipment, training and inspections, researchers say. And Texas is one of the toughest places to organize unions, which can promote safety.
“There’s a Wild West culture here,” said University of Texas law professor Thomas McGarity, who has written several books about regulation. Texans often think, “We don’t want some nanny state telling workers how to work and, by implication, telling employers how to manage the workplace,” he said.
The Texas construction industry flourishes in the state’s business-friendly climate, Gov. Rick Perry has said.
“Let free enterprise reign, and be wary of overregulation,” he declared in a 2009 speech at the Central Texas Construction Expo. “All that regulation adds to your overhead, and you can’t operate at a profit.” (our emphasis)What are a few excess deaths from exploding unregulated fertilizer plants and unregulated, non-unionized workplaces when balanced against corporate profit margins, eh, Gov. "Oops"? Clearly, he and his fellow sociopath Republicans, if given the choice, would rather people be hurt than profits. "Pro-life party," indeed.
That's as much an indictment of your tenure in office as your... um, indictment.
(Photo: Booming Texas. The unregulated fertilizer plant in West, TX, exploding on April 17, 2013, taking the town with it.)
