Promotion of Adult Film Industry performer safety by the UCLA Reproductive Health Interest Group

The Adult Film Industry (AFI) is a legal industry that produces up to 11,000 films and generates $9 billion, conservatively, in gross revenues annually. HIV and other sexually transmitted infections pose serious yet generally ignored occupational health risks to AFI performers. The Reproductive Health Interest Group (RHIG), a health advocacy group at the UCLA School of Public Health, works to improve health outcomes and workplace safety standards for performers in the AFI through awareness, education, and policy change. Employers within the AFI have not met the OSHA bloodborne pathogen standard requirements for performer safety because AFI producers consider such requirements as voluntary or not applicable. RHIG has petitioned and engaged in every Cal/OSHA Standards Board meeting regarding bloodborne pathogens to clarify protections for performers. RHIG has organized two panels and a symposium, bringing together AFI stakeholders, including producers and performers as well as public health professionals, to raise awareness about the health and safety conditions within the industry to UCLA students, faculty, and the public.

We will describe RHIG's involvement in bringing awareness to industry practices, the disease burden, attempts at regulation, and current industry attitudes. The session will begin by discussing documented barriers to protecting the health of performers based on evidence presented at the symposium and panels. We will then discuss the barriers for performers to access a safe workplace identified by our outreach to the industry. Finally, we will provide RHIG's policy stances and involvement in Cal/OSHA meetings regarding the bloodborne pathogens standard.