Occupational health and safety experiences among self-identified immigrant workers living or working in Somerville, MA by ethnicity, years in the US, and English proficiency

Details

• Personal Author:
  Brugge D ; Chianelli M ; Dalembert F ; Desmarais AM ; Galvão H ; Goldman R ; Goldstein-Gelb M ; Gute, David M. ; Hyatt R ; McWhinney M ; Panikkar B ; Pirie A ; Vasquez I ; Woodin MA
• Description:
  In this community based research initiative, we employed a survey instrument predominately developed and administered by Teen Educators to assess occupational health risks for Haitian, Salvadoran, and Brazilian immigrants (n = 405) in Somerville, Massachusetts, USA. We demonstrate that a combined analysis of ethnicity, years in the US, and English proficiency better characterized the occupational experience of immigrant workers than considering these variables individually. While years in the US (negatively) and English proficiency (positively) explained the occurrence of health risks, the country of origin identified the most vulnerable populations in the community. Brazilians, Salvadorans, and other Hispanic, all of whom who have been in the US varying length of time, with varying proficiency in English language had twice the odds of reporting injuries due to work compared to other immigrants. Although this observation was not significant it indicates that years in the US and English proficiency alone do not predict health risks among this population. We recommend the initiation of larger studies employing community based participatory research methods to confirm these differences and to further explore work and health issues of immigrant populations. This study is one of the small number of research efforts to utilize a contemporaneous assessment of occupational health problems in three distinct immigrant populations at the community level within a specific Environmental Justice context and social milieu. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Demography Environment Environmental Health Hazardous Substances Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Occupational Health Race Factors Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Surveys And Questionnaires

  More +
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Occupational Health Disparities Community Based Participatory Research Demographic-characteristics Environmental-health Environmental-protection Environmental Justice Health-hazards Health-services Health-surveys Immigrant Health Injuries Injury-prevention Medical-research Occupational-health Racial-factors Risk-factors Sociological-factors Speech-transmission Statistical-analysis Worker-health Workers

  More +
• ISSN:
  1660-4601
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  9
• Issue:
  12
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042576
• Citation:
  Int J Environ Res Public Health 2012 Dec; 9(12):4452-4469
• Contact Point Address:
  Bindu Panikkar, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
• Email:
  bpanikkar@hotmail.com
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• Performing Organization:
  Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050801
• Source Full Name:
  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• End Date:
  20101031
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:20388b420f757ef596a32d77bd265ba42ef913d5136e2aeeb17436245707192b3730e7c7be6e979ccf2eb5113be2e5ff35f90b212c774e630ef3dd53343d120c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194761/cdc_194761_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 207.33 KB ]