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Bruce A. Nissen, Ph.D.
Florida International University Center to Labor Research/Studies
University Park LC 311
Miami, FL 33199
Ph: (305) 348-2616
Email: Bruce.Nissen@fiu.edu
Abstract:
This project surveys 200 immigrant construction workers in Miami-Dade County, Florida about workplace safety and health conditions, as well as 100 non-immigrant counterparts. The purpose is to discover the job safety and health conditions of these workers, to determine which factors correlate with different safety outcomes they experience, and to compare the conditions of the immigrant and non-immigrant populations. Specifically, it measures correlations between (1) length of time in the country; (2) length of time in the construction industry; (3) union or non-union status; (4) documented or undocumented status and safety outcomes like (a) reception of safety and health training; (b) use of personal protective equipment on the job; (c) safe (or unsafe) employer practices; and (d) recent workplace accidents serious enough to lose at least a day's work. It also looks at differences in (a) through (d) between immigrants and non-immigrants. The sample will be chosen from worksites randomly chosen from a database of construction projects worth over $2 million. Workers will be contacted when entering or leaving the worksite and surveys will proceed at the time of contact or at a time arranged at time of contact. Employer cooperation is not required for this survey, to avoid a self-selection bias toward respondents whose employers are confident of their own safety practices. Results will be very relevant for researchers, practitioners, and government agencies like OSHA to help pinpoint which factors influence immigrant construction worker safety and health circumstances. Appropriate intervention measures follow from the influences discovered.
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