[CPEO-BIF] Unsafe conditions for Hispanic workers on Gulf Coast

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Latino Immigrants Working Without PPE in Gulf Coast

Katherine Torres
Occupational Hazards
July 21, 2006


Many Hispanic day laborers have flocked to the Gulf Coast to pick up 
reconstruction and cleanup jobs in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, 
but a new report finds that many of these workers face a host of 
work-related hazards, with no personal protective equipment (PPE) available.

Exposure to mold, toxic materials and body fluids from decomposing 
corpses were just some of the perils Latino immigrant workers faced 
while working in the Gulf Coast area, according to the report "Risk Amid 
Recovery: Occupational health and Safety of Latino Immigrant Workers in 
the Aftermath of the Gulf Coast Hurricanes," which was published by the 
University of California Los Angeles Labor Occupational Safety and 
Health Program (LOSH) and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network in 
June.

Field researcher and report co-author Tomas Aguilar obtained data by 
conducting interviews with 53 immigrant workers and 28 community, union, 
church and relief workers all along the Gulf Coast from December 2005 
through February 2006. Aguilar said that conducting the interviews and 
visiting workers at their jobsites made it clear that the health and 
safety of these workers was in jeopardy.

"Like other workers and returning residents, Latino workers confronted a 
variety of hazards… most frequently mentioned of these was mold," he 
wrote. "Most workers, however, received neither health and safety 
training nor protective equipment.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.occupationalhazards.com/articles/15434

--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


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