Hispanic Knowledge Regarding Personal Safety during Emergency Evacuation Events: An Approach of OSHA 29 CFR 1910.38 and NFPA 101 Safety Code

Latino workers face the most dangerous working conditions and the fewest protections in the USA as per this year OSHA National Action Summit. Therefore, public health practitioners should work to reduce these health disparities among Latino population. Different health agencies have call for research and programs that help enhancing knowledge in Latinos/Hispanic population. Indeed, increasing knowledge is part of any prevention plan seeking the reduction of injuries and illnesses of workers and general public. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge among Hispanic workers and students regarding personal safety during an evacuation situation. An electronic survey was conducted among Puerto Ricans workers and students using snowball sampling method. A total of 266 participants completed a 33 items questionnaire. A total of 17 questions were designated to measure knowledge about personal safety during an emergency evacuation event. Results showed that 64.7% have a low knowledge, 22.9% have a moderate knowledge, and 12.4% have a high knowledge regarding personal safety measures. Health disparities were increased by gender (t=4.67 p=0.00), educational status [active student or not; t=4.24 p=0.00], age [r=.174 p=0.004] and geographical area [t=2.68 p=0.008] of the workers/students. No significant results were found for educational level, or being studying a public health career. Participants' educational needs should focus in gender, age and geographical disparities approaches. Women, elders and those participants within metropolitan areas demonstrated facing a significant lack of knowledge regarding personal safety during an evacuation event which could adversely impact their health.