Work Should Not Hurt You: Reduction of Hazardous Exposures in Small Businesses Through a Community Health Worker Intervention

This project aims to reduce negative health outcomes in small businesses that primarily employ high-risk Latino workers by characterizing their exposures to hazardous chemicals and assessing if a community health worker (CHW) intervention is effective at decreasing these exposures. Although preventable by definition, occupational disease and injuries are leading causes of death in the United States, with a disproportionate burden faced by Latinos. Small businesses pose a particular risk. They are more likely to employ low-wage Latino workers, and often use hazardous solvents including volatile organic chemicals that can cause asthma, cancer, cardiovascular, and neurological disease; yet their workers lack access to culturally and linguistically appropriate occupational health and pollution prevention information due to economic, physical, and social barriers. CHW-led interventions and outreach in Latino communities have documented increased access to health care and health education and reduced workplace exposures among farmworkers. CHWs are an innovative method to bridge the gap between these small business communities and other stakeholders. The proposed project will capitalize on established partnerships between the University of Arizona, the Sonora Environmental Research Institute, Inc. and the El Rio Community Health Center. A community-engaged research framework will be used to complete the following specific aims: 1) quantify and identify exposures to hazardous chemicals in the two high risk small business sectors common in our target area (i.e., auto repair shops and beauty salons); 2) work collaboratively with business owners, trade groups, workers and CHWs to design an industrial hygiene - enhanced CHW intervention tailored for each small business sector; and 3) conduct a cluster randomized trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the CHW intervention at reducing workplace exposures to volatile organic compounds and assess which factors led to successful uti