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Appendix H: White Paper on Occupational Health Among Latino Workers: A Needs Assessment and Recommended Interventions
Pages 129-150

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From page 129...
... Although occupational diseases can affect members of all racial and ethnic Roan ~nr1 ~ _ _: ~ ~ : _ _ 1 ~ _ 1 _ 1_ 1 _ _ _ ~ .
From page 130...
... working population, we developed an estimate of the number of occupational disease deaths and new cases among Latino workers in the United States. Next, using U.S.
From page 131...
... A more recent evaluation of the highest percentage of Latinos in selected occupations appears on Tables 2b and 2c. OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE MORBIDITY ESTIMATE Early estimation of the magnitude of occupational diseases in the United States showed that numbers of new cases could exceed 390,000 per year (Ashford, 1976~.
From page 132...
... 132 SAFETYIS SEGURIDAD TABLE 2b BLS Labor Force Statistics of Selected Employed Persons by Detailed Occupation and by Race for 2001 Occupation Non-Agricultural Total Hispanics Blacks (thousands) TO % Total working population 135,073 10.9 11.3 Professionals 41,894 5.1 8.3 Managers 5,139 5.7 9.7 Services 18,359 16.3 17.9 Household services 239 32.8 12.1 Food preparation 657 27.0 16.4 Cooks 2,073 24.0 17.4 Auto body repair 220 20.8 5.4 Health care services 2,680 11.5 29.4 Construction 6,253 17.4 7.0 Plasterers 58 46.9 12.2 Concrete work 117 38.4 13.9 Drywall 191 35.1 8.6 Tile - 93 29.8 4.0 Painters 636 28.5 7.6 Brick and stone masons 235 24.5 11.2 Precision food manufacture 429 31.2 13.5 Meat cutters 223 38.1 13.5 Food batch makers 55 15.0 12.0 Manufacturing (textiles and general)
From page 133...
... TABLE 3 Estimated Occupational Disease Morbidity for Blacks and Hispanics Working in the United States 1992 , Estimated No. of Disease Categories Estimated No.
From page 134...
... This translates into at least 10,000 possible cases of occupational asthma among Latino workers in the U.S., if the 10 percent proportion for Latinos working in the United States. A more focused look at the occupations with the greatest number of injuries illustrates the proportion of Latinos in those categories (see Table 4a)
From page 135...
... is greater than the expected proportion corresponding to the percentage of Latino workers in the working civilian population (10 percent of 132,684,000~. If the fatality rate were proportionate to the number of Latinos in the workforce, 10 percent or 603, fatalities would be expected, while 700 were observed.
From page 136...
... , no valid statistical test could be applied to measure differences in fatal occupational injury rates by race/ethnicity. To bring some context to these traumatic fatalities, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the event or exposure to which each death is directly attributed (i.e., the underlying cause)
From page 137...
... (1998~. Fatal Occupational Diseases Fatal occupational disease is defined as death due to a disease that is either caused or exacerbated by substances, physical conditions, or other hazardous exposures on the job.
From page 138...
... civilian workforce were of Latino workers (see Table 5) , we can roughly estimate that 5,520 to 8,832 I,atinos die from occupational diseases annually.
From page 139...
... estimated the degree of under-reporting by comparing independently generated estimates of occupational disease mortality and incidence with the actual numbers of cases reported by the Workers' Compensation Board. In New York State, only 3 percent to - 5 percent of the estimated number of deaths due to occupational diseases was reported by the Workers' Compensation Board as being of occupational etiology.
From page 140...
... LATINO WORKERS RISK OF OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE Table 4a shows the blue-collar occupations with the highest number of occupational illness and injury nationwide. These 1997 data show how the percentage of injuries/illness exceeded the representation of Latino workers in three categories Janitors, laborers, and cooks)
From page 141...
... BARRIERS TO PREVENTION OF OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES The evidence presented above strongly suggests that occupational disease in the Latino workforce is a common, severe, and preventable problem. In order to suggest rational solutions to the problem it would be helpfi~1 to explore some of the barriers to prevention of occupational diseases as well as some of the reasons that Latino workers tend to be over-represented in hazardous jobs.
From page 142...
... As a result workers in these circumstances may present with advanced or late-stage occupational diseases and may be resistant to quitting their jobs even when strongly counseled to do so by a physician. This economic and bureaucratic trap is a major barrier to preventing occupational illness in Latino workers.
From page 143...
... Although occupational diseases may disproportionately affect Latino workers, the aim of preventive programs should be to reduce hazards for all workers, not simply redistribute the hazards more "equitably." These recommendations are intended to supplement broader, ongoing efforts to improve health and safety conditions in the workplace. Primary Prevention Interventions Occupational health is looking more and more to primary prevention interventions as the way to evolve from a paradigm of control of occupational exposures to a new one of prevention (Moure-Eraso, 1999; Quinn et al., 1998~.
From page 144...
... . CLINICAL OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH SERVICES Access to comprehensive clinical occupational health services is probably the major determinant of the success of medical treatment for occupational diseases, as well as of surveillance and secondary prevention programs.
From page 145...
... Limitation of job opportunities due to lack of education is important as an independent factor, and in combination with other factors, in increasing the risk of occupational diseases in Latino workers. Improvement of both quality of education and numbers of high school and ..
From page 146...
... Improving access of Latino workers to occupational medicine clinical services would help greatly in documenting the prevalence and incidence of currently undiagnosed occupational diseases in Latinos. A successful statewide network of occupational health clinics coordinated by and reporting to the state department of health and supported by funds from Workers' Compensation was started in New York State in 1989.
From page 147...
... The current estimates suggest that the overall risk of occupational diseases and injuries among Latino workers is beyond what should be expected. in spite of obvious inadequacies available evidence is certainly sufficient to justify primary prevention interventions in the occupations for which we have identified morbidity and mortality excesses.
From page 148...
... Nonfatal occupational illness incidence rates by industry and category of illness, 2000. http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/osh/os/ostblO05.txt.
From page 149...
... , Murthy LI. Occupational Sentinel Health Events: An up-dated list for physician recognition and public health surveillance.
From page 150...
... 150 SAFETYIS SEGURIDAD Wagner G and Wegman DH.


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