Latino construction workers' perspectives on health and safety : Results of a community survey

Protección en Construcción: The Lawrence Latino Safety Partnership is a community-based participatory research project to understand and address fall hazards and silica exposure among Hispanic construction workers in the Lawrence, MA area. Following focus groups with Hispanic construction workers, supervisors, and contractors, we devised a community survey. The University research group drafted the survey based on the focus group themes and the literature related to “Safety Climate.” The survey was revised through a cycle of meetings with the project's “promotores” – the community-based research team -- in order to make it relevant and linguistically appropriate (in Spanish). Participants were recruited through networks and at locations visited by construction workers. Survey results corroborated focus group findings. For example, 78% answered that construction workers ALWAYS feel pressure to get things done quickly in order to keep their jobs; 74% answered that workers who don't speak English ALWAYS have difficulty understanding safety rules; 43% thought that workers who do not speak English can ALWAYS count on their co-workers or supervisors to translate the necessary information. A community-based approach is a useful way of surveying Hispanic construction workers who may be hard to reach at their worksites. Hispanic construction workers report a mixed but generally negative perspective on safety climate elements, such as supervisor support for safety. While lack of a common language is perceived as a challenge for safety on construction sites, Hispanic workers are often able to rely on co-workers with higher English proficiency for support.