Salud y Seguridad: How OSHA Outreach Training materials are Different in Spanish
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STUDENT(S)
Sam Villalobos -
CLASS YEAR
2019 -
COMMUNITY PARTNER(S)
NC State Industrial Expansion Solutions (Southeastern OSHA Training Institute Education Center) -
PROJECT LOCATION(S)
Raleigh, North Carolina -
REGION(S)
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PROJECT YEAR(S)
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PROJECT TYPE
Abstract
How are Spanish-language fall protection OSHA outreach safety training materials different from English-language materials?
Purpose
Latinos in the construction industry are 30% more likely to sustain a work-related injury and 40% to 80% more likely to die on the job than their non-Latino peers. One of the reasons for this disparity is that while most Latino workers are more proficient in Spanish, there are often fewer educational resources for safety training in Spanish than in English.
Under the OSH Act, employers have a duty to “provide safety training in a language and vocabulary workers can understand”. However, Spanish-speaking Latino workers often experience poorly translated training sessions that are difficult to understand, and the limited comprehension of safety measures by these workers inevitably prevents them from working in a wholly safe environment.
To find out more about issues associated with Spanish safety training, this study examined the differences in OSHA outreach training in English and Spanish. Specifically, this study focused on the field of fall protection in construction training.