Action research for the health and safety of domestic workers in Montreal: using numbers to tell stories and effect change

Details

• Personal Author:
  Hanley J ; Lippel K ; Messing K ; Premji S
• Description:
  In 2007, a Filipina organization in Quebec (PINAY) sought the help of university researchers to document the workplace health and safety experiences of domestic workers. Together, they surveyed 150 domestic workers and produced a report that generated interest from community groups, policy-makers, and the media. In this article, we-the university researchers-offer a case study of community-university action research. We share the story of how one project contributed to academic knowledge of domestic workers' health and safety experiences and also to a related policy campaign. We describe how Quebec workers' compensation legislation excludes domestic workers, and we analyze the occupational health literature related to domestic work. Striking data related to workplace accidents and illnesses emerged from the survey, and interesting lessons were learned about how occupational health questions should be posed. We conclude with a description of the successful policy advocacy that was possible as an outcome of this project. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Mental Health Occupational Health Safety Safety Management Stress, Psychological Women Workplace
• Keywords:
  Accidents Emotional-stress Health-protection Household-workers Humans Injuries Physical-capacity Physical-stress Psychological-effects Psychological-factors Safety-measures Work-environment Worker-health Workers

  More +
• ISSN:
  1048-2911
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  421-439
• Volume:
  20
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20041798
• Citation:
  New Solut 2010 Oct; 20(4):421-439
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr. Jill Hanley, McGill School of Social Work, 3506 University Street, Room 300, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2A7, Canada`
• Email:
  jill.hanley@mcgill.ca
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• Performing Organization:
  University of California - Los Angeles
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20080801
• Source Full Name:
  New Solutions: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy
• End Date:
  20100731
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b46ddfea07060aa40f709e5432bf4481c104218bef53b9948c216a87a886cfc41b10a5c1447d167d78201c2cc0ad6dca25530a7e9b115c195294f34f941151c9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194256/cdc_194256_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 120.96 KB ]