A Programmatic approach to providing safety and health training to Spanish-speaking workers

Effective occupational safety and health education can prevent death, injury and illness. This has been documented most recently by evaluations of training conducted by grantees of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Worker Education and Training Program (NIEHS WETP). Yet such effective training has, by and large, not been available to the rapidly growing Spanish-speaking workforce, often employed in hazardous jobs and suffering from disproportionately high rates of injury and illness.

There is a critical need for a systematic, programmatic approach to the problem, moving beyond occasionally hiring a Spanish-speaking trainer or translating a curriculum. NIEHS WETP grantees have developed a variety of programs that incorporate awareness of culture and socioeconomic context into goal-setting, outreach, and leadership development for trainers and workers.

During this session NIEHS WETP grantees will discuss innovative approaches to address the problem from community and workplace based perspectives. Deogracia Cornelio, UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program (UCLA LOSH), will describe outreach and education through community networks to reach day laborers in the informal economy; Don Ellenberger, CPWR - the Center for Construction Research and Training, will discuss how it has adapted its instructor development program in the building trades; and Luis Vazquez, United Auto Workers Union (UAW), will analyze the impact of an empowerment-based worker-trainer program in Puerto Rico.

Representatives from each of the programs will describe the challenges they confront and opportunities to develop union and community-based partnerships that can identify appropriate interventions to reach the growing Spanish-speaking immigrant population.