City workplace fatalities soared in 2014, reaching their highest levels in six years, according to a federal report released Thursday.
A total of 78 people died in fatal workplace incidents last year, a 22% increase from 2013, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Workplace safety advocates attributed the uptick, a trend that has been in effect since the 2008 recession, to a lack of enforcement.
“Regardless of industry, there isn’t enough enforcement of our health and safety laws,” said Nadia Marin-Molina, a safety and health specialist at the New York Committee for Occupational Safety.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration “is terribly under capacity to be able to conduct inspections at work places in New York City and across the country.”
The breakdown of the deaths shows a wide array of causes.
There were 12 suicides; 11 homicides; and 20 deaths from falls, slips or trips.
The other fatalities involved a mix of transportation incidents (14); contact with heavy objects or machinery (8); exposure to toxic substances (7); and fires and explosions (4).
Two others died as a result of workplace violence but no other details were provided.
The construction industry had the dubious distinction of accounting for the most on-the-job fatalities with 22, up from 17 in 2013.
The city has seen 16 construction fatalities this year — 14 of which came on non-union job sites, said Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York.
“I am firmly convinced that the reason these accidents are happening, this year or last year, is because the workers themselves are basically being exploited every day,” LaBarbera said.
“You can’t put profits before peoples’ lives and that’s what’s happening in this industry with irresponsible contractors and irresponsible developers who are taking advantage of non-union workers.”
Out of the total deaths in 2014, the vast majority of the victims were men (71). The highest represented age group were 55 to 64-year-olds (22), and Hispanics accounted for the most deaths by race (32).
Whites were second on the list (28), followed by Asians (10), the data shows.
The 2014 figures marked the largest tally since 2008 when 90 people died on the job.