Workplace Health Assessment and Prevention among Hispanic Construction Workers
Construction workers remain a high-risk, transient occupation for whom worksite outreach programs for cancer risk assessment, given their increased exposure to both environmental and occupational carcinogens, are highly needed. One possible strategy for reaching construction workers is to pair delivery of worksite exposure and health assessment, health promotion materials, worker safety guides, and smoking cessation materials when workers are purchasing food and drinks from lunch trucks that routinely stop at construction sites. Our NIOSH funded research team is currently conducting a construction workplace health assessment and prevention pilot study, to examine the feasibility and acceptability of this intervention delivery method among construction workers from different large construction sites in South Florida. Coupling language-sensitive worksite interviews with biological samples, our study assesses CO levels, tobacco smoke exposures, cancer screening behaviors, cancer risk knowledge, work safety information, receptivity to smoking cessation services in general, and receipt of such services from health workers via lunch trucks. Results of this pilot study will inform our research team of the feasibility of this novel approach for the provision of workplace and non-workplace cancer risk assessment and health promotion services among these high-risk construction workers. Cross-collaboration with community partners in this Pilot Study will help bridge healthcare resources to this highly risky underserved worker group as well as inform the practice of worksite health promotion and educational interventions.
Pilot Funding Source: University of Alabama’s Deep South Center for Occupational Health & Safety – A national institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) Education Research Center.