RECOMMENDATION C:
PROMOTE LOCAL COMMUNITY ACTION

Enhance the ability of local communities to take a more active role in protecting and assisting immigrant workers.

C-1.

Provide training and assistance to workers through community-based organizations (CBOs) and unions. One of the most effective means of delivering information to immigrant workers is through organizations that they know and trust. CBOs, non-profit service organizations, and unions should be funded to carry out training programs for employers and workers, in their own languages, addressing hazard recognition and control as well as legal rights and benefits. These organizations can also expand outreach efforts to reach immigrant workers through other trusted community organizations, such as churches, and develop broader community programs to identify high-risk workplaces and gather more information on working conditions. Moreover, these organizations can be involved in partnerships with Cal/OSHA to report hazards and in advocating for workers to achieve improvements in the workplace (See Recommendation A-5).

Funding criteria should be established based on input from these organizations regarding which outreach and education methods work well in the different immigrant communities, and where resources are needed. These efforts should be well documented and evaluated, in order to identify best practices and promote successes at a broader level.

C-2.

Identify and collaborate with existing economic development and job training programs. Many public and/or nonprofit programs provide a range of employment-related services to low-income immigrant workers. These include: city programs funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through its Community Development Block Grant program; One-Stop Career Centers and other resources and services funded by the federal Workforce Investment Act; and resources and services of the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program. These work and community programs should be identified and called upon to help train immigrant workers and assist in efforts to improve health and safety conditions in workplaces.

C-3.

Develop local media campaigns. The ethnic media have been a useful vehicle to reach immigrants around other public health and immigrant rights issues. Many governmental agencies and other organizations use radio, television and print media to publicize events, educate the community, and build community support for an issue. The Department of Health Services' Immunization Branch has developed an interesting media campaign that uses culturally-appropriate messages to promote immunizations in immigrant communities. A similar approach should be undertaken with respect to occupational health, both to increase awareness of these issues and their impact on immigrant communities, and to teach immigrants about their health and safety rights. Moreover, a broader media campaign should highlight the contributions that immigrants make to the state's economy, as well as the benefits of investing in prevention of occupational injuries and illnesses.

C-4.

Explore possible funding mechanisms to support outreach and education activities. Possible funders for community-based educational programs include private foundations, state and federal agencies, and state and federal legislative appropriations. There is a need to educate private funders on occupational health issues, and to work with them to link occupational health to the broader health issues that impact immigrant communities.

A potential model for funding educational efforts is the capacity-building grant program sponsored by federal OSHA. This program covers a broad range of activities such as outreach, education, curriculum and materials development, consultation, and resource development and offers funding for multi-year projects.

C-4-a.

Release special state funds allocated for worker training. One specific source of funding for training programs targeting immigrant workers is the Workers' Occupational Safety and Health Education Fund enacted as part of workers' compensation legislation in 2002. (See Labor Code section 6345.7.) This fund is earmarked for establishing and maintaining a statewide worker safety and health training and education program. This program would involve developing a health and safety curriculum and delivering trainings to workers on injury and illness prevention, through a network of training providers. Workers who do not speak English as their first language are one of the specific target groups of this legislation, as are industries on the "high-hazard" list, where many immigrants are employed. In Fall 2002, however, Governor Davis prohibited spending of monies from this fund. The Governor should immediately release monies from the fund, which exists as a special account in the State Treasury.

C-5.

Improve immigrants' access to medical care at public, community, and private health care facilities. Many immigrant workers who are injured on the job do not receive medical care in the workers' compensation system but instead seek care on their own. However, community clinics, county hospitals, and private health care facilities often decline to provide full services to workers with job injuries. In some cases, this may be due to difficulty in complying with medical-legal reporting requirements in the workers' compensation system and with complicated procedures for seeking reimbursement from workers' compensation insurers. Insurers may also deny claims or refuse to pay for some services. Furthermore, health care providers may not provide adequate treatment due to an inability to recognize the work-related causes of an injury or illness, or due to an inability to communicate with non-English-speaking workers.

Methods should be explored for training and assisting clinics, hospitals, and other health care facilities in understanding workers' compensation reporting requirements, obtaining reimbursement for services, and improving linguistic and cultural access for non-English-speaking patients. In addition, health care providers should be trained to look for and diagnose possible work-related causes of injuries, and to render appropriate treatment.

Community-based clinics and public clinics, often the principal providers in immigrant communities, should be funded to carry out educational programs for immigrants on occupational health. Joint projects should be developed with the California Primary Care Association, the California State Association of Counties, and the California Association of Public Hospitals to raise awareness among community and county clinics about the occupational health issues impacting immigrants in their communities, and enable them to include occupational health in the health education programs they provide. These associations could also assist in publicizing the efforts of clinics which are successfully implementing programs for immigrants.

At the local level, employers should be given information about the resources offered by primary care clinics in their area.

C-6. Expand the role of county health departments. County health departments can play a strong role in enforcement and referrals as well as in conducting outreach and education programs for immigrant communities (see Recommendation A-5). Inspectors from the Certified Unified Program Agencies (CUPAs) and other local agencies should be involved in partnerships to deliver information to employers. For example, DHS worked with hazardous materials inspectors to disseminate a health hazard advisory on n-Hexane to auto repair shops across the state. The advisory contained information on pollution prevention and worker health and safety, thus meeting the goals of both agencies. DHS should develop joint projects with county health departments to help them identify resources available and resources they would need to address occupational health as one of the public health issues that affects their communities.