The race for N.C. commissioner of labor has become a bitter war of statistics, with each candidate disputing what the numbers mean for workplace safety in the state.
Challenger Rep. Wayne Goodwin, D-Richmond, said he believes the state to be one of the worst in the nation as far as workplace accidents and deaths. He also said the commissioner of labor should be more involved in the economy of the state.
He is running to unseat incumbent Republican Cherie Berry.
"During this administration, there have been too many plant explosions, too many workplace accidents and deaths and too many job losses," Goodwin said.
The commissioner of labor is the head of the Department of Labor, which is responsible for policies associated with workers and the workplace.
Its most important function is as a regulatory agency. The department is responsible for ensuring that the more than 220,000 employment sites in the state comply with the safety standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
It leads inspections and investigations into violations, inspects the state's mines and quarries and deals with employee discrimination and wage and hour assistance, said Juan Santos, a spokesman for Berry's office.
The commissioner also signs off on the safety of all elevators in the state.
Goodwin said, if elected, he would focus more resources on Spanish-language training for Hispanic construction workers, some of the most at-risk workers in the state for workplace injuries and deaths.
He said he would work to pass legislation that he introduced as a representative to provide special training for Hispanic workers for construction companies.
In exchange for putting their workers through the program, employers would receive a three-year reduction or waiver of certain OSHA fines and penalties.
Currently, the Department of Labor has a mobile training unit that travels the state at the request of construction companies.
Santos said the number of Hispanic workplace fatalities dropped from 25 in 2002 to 21 in 2003, adding that the department is conducting a forum for Hispanic construction workers in November.
But Goodwin maintains that the state is the ninth worst in the nation for workplace accidents
"Until October of this year, the Department of Labor said that we continued to have the best safety record ever," Goodwin said.
"They admitted 10 months into 2004 that actually, in 2003, accidents went up, workplace deaths went up, workplace accidents went up, the number of Hispanic deaths went up."
But Santos disputed Goodwin's claims, citing statistics showing that the N.C. injury and illness rate was four out of every 100,000 full-time employees. He said the figure is the lowest in the history of the state.
He admitted that the number of workplace fatalities increased from 169 in 2002 to 182 in 2003, but attributed this in part to an airplane crash in Charlotte last year that claimed 21 lives. Twelve of the deaths were considered workplace deaths.
The year also was marked by a plant explosion in Kinston that killed six people.
"I'm sure Mr. Goodwin is going to put our fatality figures in a certain slant of light," Santos said.
Santos said the commissioner has worked with the private sector since the beginning of her term to increase awareness of the problems with workplace safety and that she created a Hispanic safety task force as soon as she took office.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
