Assessing the impact of California's Worker Occupational Safety and Health Specialist program: Does worker leadership training have a positive effect?

Can employees from the “shop floor” become effective workplace health and safety leaders? This paper looks at the results of an evaluation of a “ Worker Occupational Safety and Health Specialist” course, part of a unique program administered by California's Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation and funded through an annual assessment on workers' compensation insurance carriers. The course consists of 24 hours of training coordinated by University-based labor education centers, using a standardized curriculum that is highly participatory and action-oriented. To date, more than 750 Specialists have been trained throughout the state. This presentation will describe the program's effectiveness in achieving positive health and safety changes in the workplace and factors that contribute to, or interfere with, the impact Worker Occupational Safety and Health Specialists have on the job. Data were collected through interviews with randomly selected participants 3-6 months following completion of the course. They were asked about efforts to identify workplace health and safety problems, to make improvements in health and safety conditions at work, and to communicate health and safety issues to other workers. Analysis of activities these worker leaders have been able to initiate will be featured, as well as a discussion of the critical components that seem to make a difference in effectiveness.