News (Noticias) Tagged ‘occupational safety and health’

More Hispanics die on the job than other U.S. workers, and the rate is highest among the foreign-born, according to a federal study released Thursday.

Construction industry work accounted for a third of the Hispanic deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported after reviewing more than 11,000 Hispanic work-related deaths between 1992 and 2006. About 95 percent were men.

According to Dr. Sherry Baron, who studies health disparities for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the figures aren’t surprising.”*

Direct link it transcript

“Oscar Paredes, executive director of the Latin American Workers Project, said outreach and training by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and city agencies are ineffective because of the language barrier.

“The city government doesn’t have a lot of people who speak the language or that can offer the appropriate training,” he said.

Moreover, Paredes said some workers ignore safety precautions, sometimes because they are apathetic, sometimes because they are afraid to lose their job if they refuse to perform a dangerous task, such as scaling heights with no harnesses or guardrails.”*

“Federal safety officials have called for a $2.78 million penalty against the Cintas Corporation, the nation’s largest supplier of uniforms, for violations at its Tulsa plant, where a worker died when he was pulled into a large dryer.

The penalty that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Thursday evening is more than four times any previous safety penalty leveled against a service-sector company.

In March, the Cintas employee, Eleazar Torres Gomez, 46, died when a conveyer belt in the automated laundry of the Tulsa plant dragged him into an industrial dryer. Workers said Mr. Torres was trapped more than 20 minutes in temperatures that reached 300 degrees.”

“Reducing the number of Hispanic employees killed and injured in construction and general industry is the goal of a new alliance formed by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development and El Refugio, a Newton-based non-profit outreach center for Hispanic families.

Under the alliance, OSHA will work with El Refugio to develop workplace safety and health training programs to educate the organization’s clients about fall, amputation, electrical, “struck-by”/”crushed-in” hazards and emergency response issues.”

“CLARO and OSHA renewed a formal alliance at a signing ceremony Wednesday, Dec. 6, cementing a relationship officials of both organizations hope will be mutually beneficial.

Carrie Tyler, executive director of the Centro Latino de Apoyo, Recursos y Oportunidades in Marshall and Barbara Theriot, director of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administrations Kansas City area office, signed the agreement at CLAROs office just east of the Marshall square.”

“Striving to make the world safer by working closely with a number of safety and health organizations worldwide, the National Safety Council next week will host leading experts and dignitaries from 17 countries for its first Hispanic Safety Health Congress.

Since the 1990s, the National Safety Council has collaborated with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) – the regional office of the World Health Organization – to promote occupational safety and health within the Hispanic community living in Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States. The Hispanic Congress, Nov. 6-7 at the San Diego Convention Center, is one outcome of that partnership. “

“Latino crowds are expected to be heavy at three different rallies planned for April 28th to recognize California’s Workers’ Memorial Day, commemorating the creation of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Rallies will be held in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento.

Speakers at the Sacramento rally, scheduled for 11:00 am at the South steps of the State Capitol, include nurse Barbara Clark, a plaintiff in a multi-million dollar federal lawsuit, and Eric Drew, the first victim of identity theft to successfully have a perpetrator convicted under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), amongst others.

“There are forces in the state that want to strip away workers compensation benefits for undocumented workers,” said Clark about the anticipated showing of Latino workers. “Stripping away health benefits for injured workers hurt by unsafe employers is becoming the flash-point for outraged Latinos fed up with mal-treatment,” Clark said.”

“A state agency and a Hispanic community organization have reached a first-of-its-kind agreement to address employee concerns at a Marshalltown meatpacking plant.

The Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Latinos en Accion de Citizens for Community Improvement, a Hispanic Advocacy group, have signed a two-year partnership agreement to promote safety and educate Hispanic workers about workplace rights.”

Please note some (many) sites require registration. Many times it is free.

“Enhancing workplace safety and health for Guatemalan and other Hispanic workers in New York and New Jersey is the goal of a newly-signed alliance between the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Consulate General of Guatemala in New York City.

OSHA and the consulate, along with other faith-based and community organizations, will work with the local Hispanic community in New York and New Jersey to increase safety and health awareness. This will include jointly developing and delivering training and education programs to non-English or limited-English speaking employees and employers.”

Please note some (many) sites require registration. Many times it is free.

Researchers from Wake Forest Baptist and Centro Latino of Caldwell County interviewed Latino poultry workers in six western counties: Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Surry, Wilkes and Yadkin. The survey was based on a representative sample of workers in those counties, according to a medical center news release.

The researchers said that, on average, the injury rate from plants exceeded the rate reported to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In 2003, North Carolina reported that 9.4 percent of its poultry workers were injured or got ill on the job.

article in English / artí­culo en Ingles o en Español usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

from hispanictips.com :: hispanic news & commentary