There was an outstanding story this morning on NPR about the screwed-up construction industry in Texas. Reporter Wade Goodwin talked about the high fatality and injury rate for Texas construction workers, the lack of regulation, including not paying workers, andclassifying employees (many Spanish-speaking and undocumented) as 'independent contractors.' Because of a lack of workers compensation insurance, local hospitals and taxpayers pay the medical bills of the injured workers.
And all this adds up to very cheap housing costs in Texas on the backs and bodies of the construction workers, alas.
See http://www.npr.org/2013/04/10/176677299/construction-booming-in-texas-but-many-workers-pay-dearly
HT to David F. Goldsmith, PhD
www.OccupationalEpi.com
