A Qualitative Investigation of Hispanic Construction Worker Perspectives on Factors Impacting Worksite Safety and Risk

Details

• Journal Article:
  Environ Health
• Personal Author:
  Roelofs, Cora ; Sprague-Martinez, Linda ; Brunette, Maria J. ; Azaroff, Lenore
• Description:
  Background
  
  Hispanic workers have higher rates of injury and death on construction worksites than workers of other ethnicities. Language barriers and cultural differences have been hypothesized as reasons behind the disparate rates.
  
  Methods
  
  We conducted two series of focus groups with union and non-union Hispanic construction workers to ask them about their perceptions of the causes for the unequal rates. Spanish transcripts were translated and coded in QSR NVivo software for common themes.
  
  Results
  
  Workers reported a difficult work environment characterized by supervisor pressure, competition for jobs and intimidation with regard to raising safety concerns. Language barriers or cultural factors were not strongly represented as causative factors behind the rates.
  
  Conclusion
  
  The results of this study have informed the development of an intervention trial that seeks to prevent falls and silica dust exposure by training contractors employing Hispanic construction workers in the elements of safety leadership, including building respect for their Hispanic workers and facilitating their participation in a safety program.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Construction Industry Dust Focus Groups Hispanic Or Latino Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Silicon Dioxide Surveys And Questionnaires
• Keywords:
  Sociological-factors; Construction-industry; Construction-workers; Injuries; Traumatic-injuries; Morbidity-rates; Mortality-rates; Workers; Humans; Men; Women; Work-areas; Work-environment; Personal-protective-equipment; Silica-dusts; Fall-protection
• Source:
  Environ Health. 2011; 10:84.
• Pubmed ID:
  21962128
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC3206414
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  R01OH008750/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States
• 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
• Pages in Document:
  9 pdf pages
• Volume:
  10
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20040283
• CAS Registry Number:
  Quartz (SiO2) (CAS RN 14808-60-7) ; Silica (CAS RN 7631-86-9)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• Performing Organization:
  University of Massachusetts Lowell
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6455848d1568c5b50907e731674c7832a9a6126932634fa57f2c7dacb07a919620a3f33115c5700b5d59ee1f6422b072e27a6aba5948acf10a0e173b3aa65b91
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/22777/cdc_22777_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 260.58 KB ]