Immigrant Workers’ Perceptions of Health and Safety in the Workplace: 

Training Issues

Marianne P. Brown, M.P.H.

Director, UCLA Labor Occupational 

Safety and Health (LOSH) Program

“In terms of safety, I would like the employers to 

understand a little bit that we are also human beings, 

and that we are not going to work like animals, right?  

Do this, and do that, and knowing that there are 

chemicals or something and just to get their work done, 

they ask you to do it.  And one does it because one 

needs the money.  Do you know what I mean?”

Ciro, 50 years old, a day laborer

“The United States Census Bureau predicts that 

by the year 2050 Hispanics will represent one 

out of every four persons in the United States, up 

from about one in eight in 2000.”

Safety is Seguridad, 

National Research Council, 2003

States with Largest Hispanic Populations, 2000

Total Hispanic Population, 2000 State

(in millions)

California 11.0

Texas 6.7

New York 2.9

Florida 2.7

Illinois 1.5

Arizona 1.3

New Jersey 1.1

New Mexico 0.8

Colorado 0.7

Washington 0.4

SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau 2000

Top 10 States by Hispanic Percent Change Since 1990

State

North Carolina

Arkansas

Georgia

Tennessee

Nevada 

South Carolina

Alabama

Kentucky

Minnesota

Nebraska

SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau 2000

Percent Change

394

337

300

278

217

211

208

173

166

155

More Likely Than Others to Do the Dangerous, Low-End Jobs I •r~TE\.11\Ga-EIJ\HUUll c:u!Jutal m o: Oltep jll,~ lf\11

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Hispanic workers: Dying on the job

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Plan: Boos• Immigrant Safety on Job

By Thoma$ Male< STAFF WRITER

Feb1 u.iry 21. 2002.

Wash nglon Alarmed aboul a sharp m1e an deaths amor>g H

Fatal Work Injuries to Native and Foreignborn Hispanic Workers by 

State and Country of Birth, U.S., 19952000

Hispanic Birth for Foreign

State Total Hispanic

born (% of Foreignborn)

(% of Foreignborn)

California 1,112 675 (61%) Mexico (85%)

Texas 922 444 (48%) Mexico (92%)

Florida 420 334 (80%) Cuba (36%)

New York 274 183 (67%) Dominican Republic (35%)

Illinois 114 85 (76%) Mexico (91%)

NOTES: 1. Totals may include categories not shown separately. 2. Percentages may not sum to total due to rounding. SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.

Nonfatal Occupational Injuries with Days Away from Work to Hispanics, 

by Gender and Industry group, 19982000 (Annual Average of Private Industry Workers Age 16 and Older) 

Men With imputation Women With imputation (000s) (000s)

Total 182.0 66.4

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing 15.3 2.3

Construction 31.2

Durable goods 26.7 6.3

Nondurable goods 17.6 7.4

Transportation and public utilities 20.1 3.4

Wholesale trade 16.2 3.0

Retail trade 24.3 14.5

Finance, insurance, and real estate 3.5 2.2

Service industries 25.4 26.7

NOTES: 1. Totals include industries and values not reported separately. Dash signifies fewer than 500 cases. 2. Excludes SICs 10, 12, 14 and 40 and farms with fewer than 11 employees. SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses.

WHY?

• Language Barriers

• Different Work Experience in Countries of Origin

• Different Educational Levels

• Younger Workers on the Average

• Working in More Hazardous Jobs

• Afraid to Speak Up

ADULT EDUCATION PRINCIPLES

• Involve the people to be trained.

• Pilot test the materials with the “target population”.

• Use workers’ own narratives/voices and images in the materials.

• Develop problemsolving, participatory, and handson materials.

• Address different learning styles by using a variety of methods.

• Design materials that can be used flexibly in a variety of learning situations.

Writing

• Establish your priority message(s).

• Organize text into short, logical sections.

• Use words that are easy to understand.

• Define technical terms.

• Keep sentences short and simple.

• Use a conversational style and active voice.

Design

• Use large type.

• Emphasize important points by underlining,  bold type, italics, and boxes.

• Use wide margins.

• Use serif type font for the main text (fonts with feet).

Illustrations • Use simple line 

drawings.

• Illustrate the CORRECT way to do things, not the WRONG way.

• Avoid abstract graphs and charts.

Adapted from The Right to Understand: 

Linking Literacy to Health and Safety Training, UC Berkeley, 1994.

Guidelines for Developing Material 

in Another Language

• Write original piece in the other language.

�Don’t translate it; definitely don’t translate it literally.

• Have native speakers familiar with OSH 

terminology write it.

• Have native speakers review it.

• Have them write it in Standard Language (e.g., 

Spanish).

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“Guia práctica de Primeros Auxilios en los

lugares de trabajo”

– Cest. Quito, Ecuador

“¡La Amenaza de los Pesticidas!”

– Texas Rural 

Legal Aid, Inc.

“¿Le Enferma su Trabajo?”

– UC Berkeley 1990

Only 31.6 percent of Hispanics use the Internet, compared to about 60 percent of Asian Americans and 60 percent of whites.

Source: A Nation Online: How Americans are expanding their use of the Internet, U.S. Department 

of Commerce, February 2002.

Guidelines for Developing H & S 

Training for Immigrant Workers • Use trainers who are native speakers. • Use coworkers as trainers. • Avoid training in English & then translated into the other 

language. • Address “machismo” issue. • There are limitations to traditional, worksitebased 

training. • Focus on priority content areas:

• Basic Hazard Awareness • Skills for Addressing Job Hazards • Industry / Hazard Specific Information • Their and Their Employers’ Rights and Responsibilities

Make training:

Relevant

Active

Participatory = RAP

RELEVANT:  Content, examples are from 

their workplaces or kinds or 

work they do.

ACTIVE:  Body Mapping, Risk Mapping, 

Problem Solving, Computer 

Based (?) vs. PASSIVE: 

Lecture, Video, Computer Based (?)

PARTICIPATORY:  Small group problem handson 

exercises, small group problem 

solving.

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WORKSITE MAPPING

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Manuales de Instrucción Sobre la Salud y Seguridad

– UC Berkeley 1996

Summary

• Immigrant Workers do not receive adequate health and safety training.

• Training for them should address their unique needs (vs. one size fits all).

• Make training Relevant, Active, Participatory, and

• Have coworkers who are similar to them do the training.

Immigrant Workers’ Perceptions of Health and Safety in the Workplace: Training IssuesWHY?ADULT EDUCATION PRINCIPLESWritingDesignIllustrationsGuidelines for Developing Material in Another LanguageGuidelines for Developing H&S Training for Immigrant WorkersSummary