Health and Safety in San Francisco's Chinatown Restaurants: Findings from an Observational Survey

Restaurants are a major employer of immigrant workers in the United States, yet relatively little is known about their working conditions. Recurring accounts of wage theft and job hazards point to a need for more information about occupational health justice in restaurants. To better understand and address the health and safety of restaurant workers in San Francisco's Chinatown District, a community-university-health department partnership was formed and an ecological community-based participatory research (CBPR) study initiated. The study includes worker- and restaurant-level data collection and translation of research findings into action. This presentation focuses on restaurant-level data collection. We discuss development of a standardized observational survey and share results and lessons learned from its implementation in Chinatown restaurants by the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH).

Checklist administration in Chinatown restaurants (n=106) revealed widespread prevalence of preventable occupational hazards and limited compliance with local and state regulations requiring workplace labor law notifications, thus, indicating numerous opportunities for prevention and enforcement. Joint interpretation of results by SFDPH staff and restaurant workers enhanced understanding of findings. SFDPH's experiences with checklist implementation, while promising, suggest that effective use of this tool for monitoring and addressing workplace hazards in San Francisco and other counties will require further assessment of organizational commitments, inter-agency collaboration (i.e., Cal-OSHA, CA Division of Labor Standards Enforcement), and relevant policy directives.