Employment precarity and increased risk of hazardous occupational exposures among residents of high socioeconomic hardship neighborhoods.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Avelar S ; Bonney T ; Castañeda D ; Castañeda Y ; Conroy LM ; Forst L ; Hebert-Beirne J ; Holloway A ; Rospenda KM
• Description:
  Background: While there is evidence that workers in nonstandard employment arrangements are disproportionately exposed to recognized occupational hazards, existing studies have not comprehensively examined associations between employment precarity and exposure to occupational hazards for these workers in the USA. The aim of this study was to examine relationships between employment precarity and occupational hazards in two contiguous high socio-economic hardship neighborhoods in Chicago. Methods: Using a community-based participatory research approach, community researchers administered a community-developed survey to 489 residents of Greater Lawndale who reported current or recent employment in a job that met at least one characteristic of precarious employment (e.g. unpredictable schedule, insecure work, no living wage/benefits). Employment precarity was calculated using a modified version of the Employment Precarity Index (EPI) developed by the Poverty and Employment Precarity in Southern Ontario group. We modeled the association between employment precarity and occupational exposures using logistic regression models. Results: We identified a high prevalence of precarious employment in this sample, as well as a high prevalence of self-reported exposure to recognized occupational hazards. Increases in relative employment precarity were significantly associated with self-reported exposure to chemical and biological hazards, physical hazards, and slip, trip, strike, fall, trap or crush hazards at work. Conclusions: Results highlight the importance of using community research approaches and robust measures of employment characteristics, such as the EPI, to evaluate associations between employment precarity and hazardous exposures. These results suggest that variability in employment situations and resultant relative employment precarity are important predictors of exposure to recognized occupational hazards. Findings also suggest that health inequities observed among precariously employed workers may be partly explained by increased risk for exposure to occupational hazards, which has implications for community health and should be investigated in future longitudinal research. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Healthcare Disparities Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Precarious Work; Community-based Participatory Research; Determinants Of Exposure; Insecure Work; Health Inequities Socioeconomics; Health Disparities; Community Based; Occupational Exposure; Occupational Hazards; Work Schedules;
• ISSN:
  2398-7308
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  66
• Issue:
  9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20065911
• Citation:
  Ann Work Expo Health 2022 Nov; 66(9):1122-1135
• Contact Point Address:
  Tessa Bonney, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
• Email:
  tbonne5@uic.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2023
• Performing Organization:
  University of Illinois at Chicago
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20160901
• Source Full Name:
  Annals of Work Exposures and Health
• End Date:
  20260831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a319c460b459545b48d235433cfffbd3c1af6e917d7c3efbb1de83efa909e2b00037284e76af4aeef516f82f583396942825fe13324387609608d3b62e26571c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/249602/cdc_249602_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 309.05 KB ]