On January 13, 2021, during the construction of a retaining wall at Hajoca’s Hendersonville Profit Center in North Carolina, a tragic incident occurred. The lawsuit filed by worker Magno Alberto Valdez Sanchez alleges that the general contractor failed to ensure the wall’s stability before it was backfilled with dirt. Consequently, the wall collapsed, burying Valdez Sanchez and his colleagues under a massive load of concrete and soil. While Valdez Sanchez survived with severe injuries, his fellow worker Marcelino Rendon Hernandez tragically lost his life.
This incident is part of a larger, troubling trend in North Carolina’s construction industry, which has seen a high number of worker deaths. From January 2021 to September 2023, nearly 60 construction workers died on the job, as reported by the NC Department of Labor’s Occupational Fatality Inspection Review. The construction industry has consistently reported the most deaths in North Carolina for the past 14 years, totaling over 250 fatalities since 2009.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national figures are equally concerning, with construction and extraction workers experiencing the second-highest number of fatalities in 2022, only surpassed by transportation and material movers. The fatality rate for construction workers in North Carolina in 2022 was slightly above the average across 43 states.
A significant portion of these fatalities involves Latino workers, who suffer disproportionately high workplace incident rates. They constituted over 25% of workplace fatalities in 2020, though they make up just over 10% of the state’s population.
Legal and workplace safety experts, including Cary-based attorney John McCabe, criticize the reactive approach often taken by construction site managers, who may fail to prioritize safety assessments until after accidents occur. Such negligence leads to frequent incidents where workers are struck by heavy equipment or fall from significant heights.
Advocacy for better safety measures and stricter penalties continues, as the North Carolina Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Division is tasked with investigating workplace fatalities and serious complaints. However, the division has faced challenges in securing adequate resources to hire more inspectors, despite efforts to improve staffing with incentives like higher salaries and flexible working conditions.
Amid these challenges, the lawsuit involving Valdez Sanchez points to broader issues of accountability and safety in the construction industry, underscoring the urgent need for systemic changes to protect workers.
