Analyzes health problems and use/availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) through interviews with non-U.S. citizens; Latino migrants working on clean-up and rebuilding New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina. Survey population’s native language is Spanish.
Several key findings: 51% of those working construction reported being somewhat-to-severely affected by respiratory symptoms. Less than half of construction workers used some form of respirator, even for jobs where OSHA requires them. The construction workers also had higher blood lead levels than Latino workers in other occupations. To our knowledge, this is the first longitudinal study of occupational health and safety risks of a non-agriculture migrant day labor population.