Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2012, 9(12), 4452-4469; doi:10.3390/ijerph9124452
Article

Occupational Health and Safety Experiences among Self-Identified Immigrant Workers Living or Working in Somerville, MA by Ethnicity, Years in the US, and English Proficiency

Bindu Panikkar 1,†,* email, Mark A. Woodin 1,2 email, Doug Brugge 2 email, Anne Marie Desmarais 1 email, Raymond Hyatt 2 email, Rose Goldman 3 email, Alex Pirie 4 email, Marcy Goldstein-Gelb 5 email, Heloisa Galvão 6 email, Monica Chianelli 7 email, Ismael Vasquez 8 email, Melissa McWhinney 8 email, Franklin Dalembert 9 email and David M. Gute 1 email
1 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA 2 Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University, Boston, MA 02111, USA 3 Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA 4 Immigrant Service Providers Group/Health, Somerville, MA 02143, USA 5 Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health, Dorchester, MA 02122, USA 6 Brazilian Women's Group, Allston, MA 02134, USA 7 Vida Verde Co-Operative, Allston, MA 02134, USA 8 Community Action Agency of Somerville, Somerville, MA 02143, USA 9 Haitian Coalition, Somerville, MA 02144, USA † Present address: Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 4 September 2012; in revised form: 13 November 2012 / Accepted: 23 November 2012 / Published: 6 December 2012
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Migrant Health)
PDF Full-text Download PDF Full-Text [216 KB, Updated Version, uploaded 11 December 2012 14:03 CET]
The original version is still available [216 KB, uploaded 6 December 2012 09:38 CET]
Abstract: In this community based research initiative, we employed a survey instrument predominately developed and administered by Teen Educators to assess occupational health risks for Haitian, Salvadoran, and Brazilian immigrants (n = 405) in Somerville, MA, USA. We demonstrate that a combined analysis of ethnicity, years in the US, and English proficiency better characterized the occupational experience of immigrant workers than considering these variables individually. While years in the US (negatively) and English proficiency (positively) explained the occurrence of health risks, the country of origin identified the most vulnerable populations in the community. Brazilians, Salvadorans, and other Hispanic, all of whom who have been in the US varying length of time, with varying proficiency in English language had twice the odds of reporting injuries due to work compared to other immigrants. Although this observation was not significant it indicates that years in the US and English proficiency alone do not predict health risks among this population. We recommend the initiation of larger studies employing c community based participatory research methods to confirm these differences and to further explore work and health issues of immigrant populations. This study is one of the small number of research efforts to utilize a contemporaneous assessment of occupational health problems in three distinct immigrant populations at the community level within a specific Environmental Justice context and social milieu.
Keywords: occupational health disparities; immigrant health; community based participatory research; environmental justice

Article Statistics

Click here to load and display the download statistics.

Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Panikkar, B.; Woodin, M.A.; Brugge, D.; Desmarais, A.M.; Hyatt, R.; Goldman, R.; Pirie, A.; Goldstein-Gelb, M.; Galvão, H.; Chianelli, M.; Vasquez, I.; McWhinney, M.; Dalembert, F.; Gute, D.M. Occupational Health and Safety Experiences among Self-Identified Immigrant Workers Living or Working in Somerville, MA by Ethnicity, Years in the US, and English Proficiency. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2012, 9, 4452-4469.

AMA Style

Panikkar B, Woodin MA, Brugge D, Desmarais AM, Hyatt R, Goldman R, Pirie A, Goldstein-Gelb M, Galvão H, Chianelli M, Vasquez I, McWhinney M, Dalembert F, Gute DM. Occupational Health and Safety Experiences among Self-Identified Immigrant Workers Living or Working in Somerville, MA by Ethnicity, Years in the US, and English Proficiency. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2012; 9(12):4452-4469.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Panikkar, Bindu; Woodin, Mark A.; Brugge, Doug; Desmarais, Anne M.; Hyatt, Raymond; Goldman, Rose; Pirie, Alex; Goldstein-Gelb, Marcy; Galvão, Heloisa; Chianelli, Monica; Vasquez, Ismael; McWhinney, Melissa; Dalembert, Franklin; Gute, David M. 2012. "Occupational Health and Safety Experiences among Self-Identified Immigrant Workers Living or Working in Somerville, MA by Ethnicity, Years in the US, and English Proficiency." Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 9, no. 12: 4452-4469.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health EISSN 1660-4601 Published by MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland RSS E-Mail Table of Contents Alert