Work Safety Climate, Musculoskeletal Discomfort, Working While Injured, and Depression Among Migrant Farmworkers in North Carolina

Abstract

Objectives This analysis described Latino migrant farmworkers' work safety climate and its association with musculoskeletal discomfort, working while injured or ill, and depressive symptoms. Methods Data were from a cross-sectional survey of 300 farmworkers conducted in North Carolina in 2009. Generalized estimating equations models were used to investigate the association of work safety climate with health and safety outcomes. Result Farmworkers perceived their work safety climate to be poor. About 40% had elevated musculoskeletal discomfort, 5.0% had worked at least 1 day while injured or ill, and 27.9% had elevated depressive symptoms. The odds of elevated musculoskeletal discomfort were 12% lower and the odds of working while injured or ill were 15% lower with each 1-unit increase in the work safety climate. Work safety climate was not associated with depressive symptoms. Conclusions Work safety climate was important for agricultural workers. Poor work safety climate was associated with health outcomes (musculoskeletal discomfort) and safety (working while injured or ill). Interventions to improve work safety climate in agriculture are needed, with these interventions being directed to employers and workers.

Migrant and seasonal crop worker injury and illness across the northeast

“…While the published literature in recent years shows a steady growth of ergonomic intervention research [Kirkhorn et al, 2010], the majority of farmworker health and safety research continues to be focused on other areas. Since workers are known to continue working even when they are in pain [Arcury et al, 2012], we need to develop ways of measuring this type of injury even without lost work time.…”

“…Some recent research has been done examining the ''work safety climate'' on farms employing migrant and seasonal farmworkers [Arcury et al, 2012]. This offers perhaps the best opportunity for understanding and addressing barriers to ergonomic interventions, and investments in farmworker health and safety more generally.…”

Musculoskeletal and neurological injuries associated with work organization among immigrant latino women manual workers in North Carolina

“…Work safety climate was assessed with the Perceived Safety Climate Scale [Gillen et al, 2002]. This measure has been used in previous studies of immigrant Latino workers [Arcury et al, 2012b[Arcury et al, ,c, 2014Swanberg et al, 2012]. Nine of the items in the scale used a four-point Likert format.…”

Strawberry Fields as Extreme Environments: The Ecobiopolitics of Farmworker Health

“…Others told me that upon reporting their concerns about pesticide exposure at work, foremen, supervisors, and employers replied that if they did not like working where pesticides are being applied or used, they could quit. In other studies, structurally vulnerable immigrants and ethnic minorities accepted occupational injury (Arcury et al 2012) and general suffering (Holmes 2013;Mendenhall 2013) as part of the job or a fact of life. I commonly heard the refrain Tenemos que seguir adelante (we have to keep moving forward) during discussions about pesticides.…”

“…Many of the farmworker pesticide safety strategies featured in educational materials developed by CA DPR and the EPA, and highlighted in intervention-based research (Bradman et al 2009;Salvatore et al 2008) emphasize individual-level behavioral changes such as hand washing, segregating work clothes from regular laundry, wearing protective gear, washing fresh produce before eating it, and keeping windows closed during pesticide applications. While these are important precautionary measures, it is also true that in general, farmworker safety trainings and protections, while legally guaranteed in some states, are not implemented consistently and are not always taken seriously by employers (Arcury et al 2012). Thus, laws and regulations Downloaded by [Northeastern University] at 17:07 18 November 2014 governing pesticides are not always effective.…”