June 16, 2004—The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) has taken several steps to address the growing problem of increased workplace injuries and fatalities in the Latino workforce. Even though private injury and illness rates dropped 35 percent between 1992 and 2001, fatalities among Latino workers in the U.S. increased by 67 percent during the same period. And even though Latino fatalities decreased by six percent in 2002, the 840 deaths in 2002 represent the second highest annual total of Latino worker fatalities recorded by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to date.
At ASSE’s annual Professional Development Conference (PDC) for occupational safety, health and environmental professionals being held this week in Las Vegas, the ASSE board approved the formation of a new “Safety Professionals and the Latino Workforce” (SPALW) common interest group. On Tuesday afternoon close to 60 ASSE members from all industries and regions of the U.S. attended SPALW’s first meeting and discussed such issues as lagging translations, hands-on training versus textbook, and overcoming the cultural and language barriers. They also discussed how to work together to identify and develop resources to increase safety for the Latino workforce.
SPALW is open to all ASSE members and non-members. It was formed by ASSE to assist Latino individuals and those who work with Latinos in all industries to improve safety among this workforce, a group that has witnessed a major increase in serious workplace accidents nationwide, according to ASSE Regional Vice President and Council on Member and Region Affair’s Diversity Committee Chair Fred Miller. ASSE recognized and promoted the need for involvement by the members to successfully reach the goals of the new group. Miller noted that the cultural gap, communication barriers and training deficiencies have been identified as major influences on the increasing accident rates.
ASSE is working with such groups as NIOSH and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to develop risk communications that build on workers’ cultural values; that are effective without assuming a standard’ educational attainment on the part of the worker; and a risk communication paradigm that incorporates hands-on demonstrations of safety principles instead of relying on a worker’s oral or written language literacy.
During the ASSE PDC some sessions were presented in Spanish and some were directed at those with a Latino workforce such as the sessions titled “Training and Communication Skills for Developing a Safety Culture,” “You Don’t Have to Speak Spanish to Communicate with Your Spanish Speaking Workforce,” and “How to Understand and Apply OSHA’s Fall Protection Standard.” One day training classes were held for Latino workers in conjunction with the PDC as well.
Several resources now available that address increasing workplace safety for Latino workers include OSHA’s Spanish-language Web site, and NIOSH’s Spanish Web site.
