Characterizing the low wage immigrant workforce: a comparative analysis of the health disparities among selected occupations in Somerville, Massachusetts

Details

• Personal Author:
  Brugge D ; Gute, David M. ; Hyatt R ; Panikkar B ; Woodin MA ; Brugge D ; Gute, David M. ; Hyatt R ; Panikkar B ; Woodin MA
• Corporate Authors:
  Community Partners of the Somerville Community Immigrant Worker Project ; Community Partners of the Somerville Community Immigrant Worker Project
• Description:
  Background: This study estimates job-related risks among common low wage occupations (cleaning, construction, food service, cashier/baggers, and factory workers) held by predominantly Haitian, El Salvadorian, and Brazilian immigrants living or working in Somerville, Massachusetts. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional survey on immigrant occupational health was conducted between 2006 and 2009 and logistic regression was used to assess the job-related risks among the most common low wage occupations. Results: Construction workers reported significantly higher health risks, and lower access to occupational health services than the other occupations. Compared to cashier/ baggers, the reference population in this study, cleaners reported significantly lower access to health and safety and work training and no knowledge of workers' compensation. Factory workers reported significantly lower work training compared to cashier/baggers. Food service workers reported the least access to doctors compared to the other occupations. Conclusion: We found significant variability in risks among different low wage immigrant occupations. The type of occupation independently contributed to varying levels of risks among these jobs. We believe our findings to be conservative and recommend additional inquiry aimed at assuring the representativeness of our findings. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Occupational Health Race Factors Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Surveys And Questionnaires
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Immigrant Health Cleaners Community Based Participatory Research Construction Construction-workers Construction Workers Factory Workers Health-care Health-services Health-surveys Occupational-health Occupational Health Occupations Racial-factors Risk-analysis Risk-factors Service-industries

  More +
• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article ; Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Volume:
  57
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20043445
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2014 May; 57(5):516-526
• Contact Point Address:
  Bindu Panikkar, Department of Sociology and Anthroplogy, Northeastern University, Boston, MA
• Email:
  bpanikkar@hotmail.com
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• Performing Organization:
  Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050801
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  20100731
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:cbd933816cbb290539480f3e21de4ebe19d88499d9fd1314cd1709ef910bbd850b564c51cd32ad29ce1d5a5dc7dbb2a937cf2330edda17d4f81efd14786809bc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195338/cdc_195338_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 120.99 KB ]