STRICTLY BUSINESS: CAPE BUILDING CATCHING UP WITH '96 STATISTICS

Any day now, the construction and building scene in Cape Girardeau is liable to explode.

Cool and wet weather through the first five months has slowed construction throughout the area.

Construction is down in Cape Girardeau and the state.

During the first four months, construction is down 12 percent in Missouri.

In Cape Girardeau, construction is down even more -- from $20.8 million during the first five months of 1996 to $8.8 million through May.

But home building is up slightly in Cape Girardeau, from 23 homes at a cost of $3.3 million in 1996, to 25 homes at a cost of $3.4 million through May.

One major project during the first quarter of 1996 -- a $7.5 million clinker storage building project at Lone Star Inc. -- is the biggest difference in totals of the two years to date.

"We expected a big increase in home building for 1997," said Richard Murray, Cape Girardeau Inspection Services director. "With a number of new subdivisions in the planning, we still expect to see a lot of home building once the weather cooperates."

Six home permits were issued in May, in the amount of $750,000, for an average of $125,000.

Some 40 construction permits were issued in May, totaling $1.4 million.

A total of 182 permits have been issued during the first five months here, in the amount of $8.8 million. A year ago, 216 permits were issued during same period.

Seventeen permits have been issued the first week and a half of June, including a $325,000, one-story, permit for a new building for the Meat Shop, to be built at 1225 S. Kingshighway.

State construction down

Missouri's April construction activity was down 22 percent from numbers recorded in April 1996.

April totals were at $522,985,000, compared to the $667,363,000 during April 1996, according to the F.W. Dodge Division of McGraw-Hill, an authority on the construction market. Dodge issues monthly totals in its Dodge Report and also publishes Sweet's Catalog Files.

The state's April nonresidential construction, which includes commercial, manufacturing, educational, religious, administrative, recreational, hotel, dormitory and other buildings, was $147,588,000, down 34 percent from $222,713,000 in April 1996.

Residential construction, which includes single- and two-family houses and apartments, was on the downside for the month at $244,232,000, down 14 percent from the $284,137,000 during the same month a year ago.

Nonbuilding construction, which includes streets, highways, bridges, river and harbor developments, airports and a few other projects, was down in April, at $131,165,000, compared to the $160,513,000 during the same month a year ago.

Total construction for the first four months of the year is down 12 percent, at $1.8 billion, compared to $2 billion through April 1996.

Residential construction for the first four months of the year is down 13 percent, at $789,912,000, from $909,788,000 a year ago. Four-month totals for nonresidential construction is $593,668,000, down 16 percent, from $704,155,000 during the same period a year ago. Nonbuilding is down only 3 percent for the year, from $421,286,000 in 1996 to $409,630,000 through April

Workplace accidents

During the time it takes to write this workplace accident column, more than 100 people will be injured in a work-related accident.

Statistics tell the story:

An employee is injured every nine seconds. That's 410 injuries every hour, 9,900 every day, and 69,200 every week.

An employee is killed every 99 minutes in the United States. That's one death every hour and a half, 15 every day and 100 every week.

WorkSAFE Week was recently proclaimed by Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan to remind both employers and employees to take responsibility for workplace safety.

Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance, a non-profit company that provides workers' compensation insurance in Missouri, headed the campaign for the special week, which was observed earlier this month.

Workplace accidents make a difference to everyone's pocketbook according to the National Safety Council.

The total cost in the United States in 1995 was $119.4 billion. This breaks down to $59.8 billion in wage and productivity losses; $19.2 billion in medical costs; $25.5 billion in administrative expenses; Other employer costs of $11 billion; $1.4 billion in damages to motor vehicles in work injuries; and $2.5 billion in fire losses.

Truck drivers are at the greatest risk for on-the-job work fatalities, according to the NSC's "Accident Facts 1996 Edition," which lists the 10 most fatal occupations.

Based on 1995 statistics -- latest available -- 762 truck drivers suffered fatal injuries. Other occupations and total of 1995 deaths: Farming, 261; sales proprietors, 249; construction, 247; police, detectives, 149; airplane pilots, 131; guards, 127; taxicab drivers, 112; timber cutters, 112, and cashiers, 110.

1996 business numbers

Some 364 new business starts were reported throughout the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission area in 1996.

The region includes seven counties -- Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Iron, Madison, Perry, St. Francois and Ste. Genevieve.

The year-end report reveals 364 new business, 33 expansions, and 116 closings, for a net gain of 248 new businesses.

By County:

Bollinger: 11 new businesses, 2 expansions, no closings.

Cape Girardeau: 175 new businesses, 20 expansions, 85 closings.

Iron: 13 new businesses, 2 expansions, 19 closings.

Madison: 23 new businesses, no expansions, 85 closings.

Perry: 12 new businesses, 1 expansion, 2 closings.

St. Francois: 114 new businesses, 5 expansions, 6 closings.

Ste. Genevieve: 16 new businesses, 3 expansion, 3 closings.

B. Ray Owen is business editor for the Southeast Missourian.