267065 Outreach and Education Strategies to Reach Workers Impacted by California's Heat Illness Prevention Standard

Wednesday, October 31, 2012 : 1:06 PM - 1:24 PM

Linda Delp, PhD, MPH , Labor Occupational Safety & Health Program, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Sarah Jacobs, MPH , Labor Occupational Safety & Health Program (LOSH), University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA
Deogracia Cornelio, MA , Labor Occupational Safety & Health Program/IRLE, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
     
In 2010, Cal/OSHA initiated a statewide education campaign to reduce heat-related illnesses and fatalities among outdoor workers and increase awareness of the state's heat illness prevention standard. In Southern California, the size and diversity of the workforce necessitated innovative outreach and education strategies to achieve the campaign's objectives. This presentation will describe the approach taken by the UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program (LOSH) to reach a large, diverse group of workers impacted by the standard.

LOSH's approach involved three principal strategies—community-based outreach by health promotores to worker-focused organizations throughout the region; popular and empowerment education for representatives of these organizations to become peer trainers; and capacity building to enhance organizations' abilities to address occupational health issues and support workers' actions to prevent heat illness.

In 2011, LOSH health promotores outreached to 70 diverse organizations and recruited 159 organization representatives and community leaders to attend TOT courses; those participants in turn used their social and professional networks to educate workers in various communities and workplaces. Evidence of LOSH's successful capacity-building efforts will be presented along with examples of organizations who integrated heat-related concerns into their campaigns. Similar outreach, education, and capacity-building strategies are planned for 2012 and will be summarized.

LOSH's approach has allowed for the extension of campaign activities to a diversity of workers spread across a large geographic area. This presentation will conclude by considering the effectiveness of these outreach and education strategies for addressing health and safety concerns among low-wage, immigrant, and other vulnerable workers.

Learning Areas:
Occupational health and safety

Learning Objectives:
Identify the diversity of rural and urban workers impacted by the heat illness prevention standard. Describe LOSH’s outreach and education approach and the effectiveness of this approach for reaching low-wage, immigrant, and other vulnerable workers.

Keywords: Outreach Programs, Education

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am Director of the UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program (LOSH) and was PI on LOSH's efforts under the Cal/OSHA heat illness prevention campaign.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 5200.0: Protecting Workers from Outdoor Heat: the California Experience