Coalition Building as a Tool for Addressing Determinants of Health of Nail Salon Workers

Nail salon workers are exposed daily to a variety of toxic chemicals and experience negative health impacts ranging from musculoskeletal disorders, respiratory symptoms to skin problems and headaches. Long-term concerns related to cancer and negative reproductive impacts have burgeoned given the chronic exposure of these workers to carcinogenic and reproductively harmful chemicals. With a significant number of the industry's workforce comprised mainly of low-income immigrant Asian women who are of reproductive age and lack access to health care, there has been a clear need to implement a comprehensive strategy in order to address the systematic and institutional inequalities (i.e. lack of government oversight on chemical safety, translated materials/trainings, etc), faced by these workers. The California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative (CHNSC) has utilized coalition building as a key mechanism for implementing simultaneous policy, research, and outreach strategies in order to address key determinants of health of nail salon workers related to built, informational, and social environments. Coalition building efforts have enabled the CHNSC to implement multilevel strategies to address these determinants of health, and work towards achieving social justice for these workers: 1) Social Environment-Establishment of statewide worker/owner advisory groups and community forums to build social capital and provide civic engagement opportunities for workers/owners, 2) Built Environment- Establishment of “green” guidelines for healthier/safer salon workplaces in conjunction with regulatory agencies; 3) Informational Environment-Advocacy for translation of health and safety materials for workers/owners, implementation of campaigns to ban toxic chemicals from nail care products, and creation of a nationwide research advisory committee.