Self Reported Occupational Injuries Among Hispanic Construction Workers in Chicago

As part of a larger ongoing translational research project whose main objective is to empower workers' rights centers by providing construction safety and health training to immigrant workers, this paper describes preliminary data on self- reported hazards, injuries and use of personal protective equipment (PPE). Workers from two workers' centers self completed a survey in a group setting with bilingual assistance as needed. Results from the baseline survey for 39 workers showed that the reported time of stay in the US was highly variable and ranged from one to thirty years; and for the majority, the country of origin was Mexico (71%) followed by Guatemala (8%) and, Ecuador and Honduras (5% each). The age of these male participants ranged from 18 to 65 years (average of 37 years). Most (68%) of the participants reported having some type of job at any time during the three months period prior to the survey, with a mode of 5-10 working days/month. Thirty-six percent of the workers reported having a work related injury or illness during the previous three months and a fourth of those reported losing from 1 to 4 work-days. At least 50% of workers reported using their own PPE or any when it is provided by the employer (i.e. hard hats, earplugs, safety vests, working boots with steel toe, safety harness, dust mask, and safety glasses). Ongoing data collection is underway and will increase the power of the results to be presented.