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Calling on the Committee on Licenses and Inspections to hold hearings examining construction code requirements, the enforcement of those requirements, inspector caseload and inspector staffing ratios, construction working conditions, and the City's response to worker misclassification on construction sites.
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WHEREAS, More than 50 years ago, the OSH Act went into effect, promising every worker the right to a safe job. Since that time, workplace safety and health conditions have improved, but too many workers remain at serious risk of injury, illness, or death as chemical plant explosions, major fires, construction collapses, infectious disease outbreaks, workplace assaults, and other preventable workplace tragedies continue to occur; and
WHEREAS, Workplace hazards kill and disable more than 100,000 workers each year-5,333 from traumatic injuries and an estimated 95,000 from occupational diseases. The job fatality rate remains stagnant, and job injuries and illnesses continue to be severely underreported; and
WHEREAS, As many as 275 workers die each day from hazardous working conditions. In 2019, 5,333 workers were killed on the job in the United States. Latino and Black worker fatalities continue to increase; these workers are at greater risk of dying on the job than all other workers. Misclassified workers in the building and construction industry are especially at risk. Their injuries are rarely reported and they are ineligible for benefits, like workman's compensation, when they're hurt or killed; and
WHEREAS, The construction industry is one of the industries with the highest rates of reported workplace injury and fatality. Construction worker injuries and illnesses continue to be severely underreported. Further, when construction sites are not safe and work is not being performed to code, the public is at risk of property damage, physical injury, and death; and
WHEREAS, The International Building and Construction Codes, Philadelphia Cod...
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