“Carlos’ Law is important because it holds employers accountable who willfully disregard workers’ safety and as a result, a worker loses their life,” Charlene Obernaur, executive director of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, told Construction Dive in an email.
A recent report from NYCOSH, an independent labor group, found Latino construction workers were disproportionately likely to die on the job, accounting for 18% of fatalities in 2020, even though they comprise just 10% of the population. Almost 80% of worker deaths that year were on non-union jobsites.
