Are Your Hispanic Workers Safe?

Details

• Personal Author:
  Mulhern, Barbara
• Description:
  Hank Cierpich, a safety engineer and investigator with me California Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) program, has investigated the deaths of many Hispanic workers - including those in tree care - over the years. He believes thai the high number of Hispanic workers dying on the job in the United Slates is both unacceptable and preventable. Cierpich rccendy spoke al the 12th Annual AgSafe Conference in Seaside, Calif., and had these suggestions for tree care com· panics and other employers that have Hispanic workers: 1. Make your safety training site·specific. Tmin on the job (versus in a classroom or another location). 2. Use "real" photos in your training. In other words. don', be afraid to show your Hispanic workers graphic photos of what could happ::n to them. 3. Provide "hands-on" training. Never assume that one of your workers understands how to operate a chain saw, chipper, or other equipment until a supervisor has monitored (and signed off on) the person demonstraling actual use of the equipment. 4. Encourage employee participation in safety presentations. 5. Keep it simple. Prepare low-literacy materials (including materials in Spanish), and "don't be using college words or $10 words when you can use a 50 cent word." 6. Use "show and tell" sessions to ensure that knowledge has been gained. 7. Encourage teamwork. 8. Make training interesting. 9. Don't tell your workers to "go do it." Instead, "do it with them." 10. Show your Hispanic workers that you care. "Show them that you respect them, and that they are human beings not entities you can push aside." [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Demography Education Morbidity Mortality Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Safety Management Staff Development Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Accidents Demographic-characteristics Hazards Injuries Morbidity-rates Mortality-rates Risk-factors Safety-education Safety-measures Safety-programs Sociological-factors Training Traumatic-injuries Work-environment Workers

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• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• ISSN:
  1059-0528
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 9 ; Wisconsin
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  44-50
• Volume:
  17
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042469
• Citation:
  Tree Care Ind 2006 May; 17(5):44-50
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• Performing Organization:
  Public Health Institute
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Tree Care Industry
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:11d70f90df934345930887538b46a9d6dded6f67371459cdda8eec246ce6547c780e101e790a453805337f3a5a8101b47120389be4273a82a6fa9f263d3dd784
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228674/cdc_228674_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.84 MB ]