Tune in: Telemundo Spotlights Construction Worker Safety

by Mike Hall, Mar 31, 2008

On Tuesday night, Telemundo’s hit telenovela “Pecados Ajenos” will spotlight construction worker safety. CPWR—The Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) worked with the show’s writers and producers to help develop a storyline that has real life impact on the Latino community.

CPWR’s latest edition of the Construction Chart Book (available online beginning tomorrow, see more information below) reports Hispanic construction workers are killed on the job more frequently than non-Hispanic workers and when injured, they receive far less in workers’ compensation.

The show’s safety theme is timely, just weeks before Workers Memorial Day, an annual commemoration that honors those killed and injured on the job (click here for Workers Memorial Day materials and more information).

CPWR (founded by the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department), along with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and Hollywood Health & Society, helped develop the prime-time soap’s safety themes and produced public service announcements that will air during commercial breaks. They also developed a Spanish language website that provides safety and health information for construction workers. The site, MiTrabajoSeguro.org, will go live tomorrow.

“Pecados Ajenos” airs tomorrow night and Wednesday night at 10 p.m. EDT and 9 p.m. CDT on Telemundo stations nationwide.

Also tomorrow, CPWR’s fourth edition of the Construction Chart Book: The U.S. Construction Industry and its Workers becomes available as a free download on CPWR’s website. Among the new topics in this edition is the section on the surge of Hispanic workers in the construction workforce.

The 152-page book presents detailed research data on some 50 key topics, including construction economics, employment and income, demographics, health and safety and more.

Readers also will have access to the book’s 175 charts as PowerPoint slides. Clicking on the chart in PowerPoint shows the raw numbers and statistics behind the charts. The PDF format links to all the references and research data.

Other new topics include the cost impact of construction injuries and job-related illnesses, new data on respiratory diseases and a look at health risk factors among construction workers such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

For more on the risks and dangers immigrant workers face, download the AFL-CIO report Immigrant Workers at Risk: The Urgent Need for Improved Workplace Safety and Health Policies and Programs. (Click here for English and here for Spanish.)

Later this month, the AFL-CIO will release the latest version of its annual study Death on the Job, which examines workplace death, injuries and illness by occupation, state and cause. It analyzes trends and examines the federal government’s track record on developing workplace safety standards. It also looks at the enforcement—or lack of it—of current safety laws by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).

With Workers Memorial Day, on April 28, approaching, you can organize and plan an event in your workplace or community with materials now available online from the AFL-CIO. Click here.

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article |Comments (2)