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Work Place Dangers are Greater for
Hispanics
Problems
Compounded by Less Access to Regular Health Care
En Español
LEXINGTON, Mass., Sept. 23, 2003: On-the-job
fatalities and work days lost due to injuries and illnesses
among U.S. workers of Hispanic origin are more frequent than
among workers from other ethnic groups. Compounding these
problems, Hispanic workers are less likely to get regular
medical care or have health insurance, and suffer higher
prevalence of diabetes, obesity and hypertension, all
complicated by a higher number of work hours and frequent
second jobs, according to a newly issued report by Circadian
Technologies, Inc.
"The well being of Hispanic workers is an issue that should be
of greater concern to policy makers and employers given the
dramatic growth of the U.S. Hispanic population and the
financial pressures this group brings to the health care
system-impacting employers, insurance companies and Medicare,"
said Acacia Aguirre, M.D., Ph.D., Circadian medical director
and principal author of Challenges Confronting Hispanic
Extended Hours Employees and Their Employers. TOP
Aguirre, who advocates the need for more studies to evaluate
interventions to reduce the alarming injury trends affecting
Hispanic workers, said the higher rates of fatalities and
injuries may be tied to language barriers, greater employment
in industries with high accident rates such as construction,
and fear of retribution over reporting safety issues to
supervisors or government agencies. She noted that in some
cases, companies have achieved a significant reduction in work
place injuries through Spanish-language programs and other
training efforts.
Among the principal findings of Challenges Confronting
Hispanic Extended Hours Employees and Their Employers, U.S.
Hispanics are more prone to:
Work-related fatalities -- Hispanic workers accounted for 15
percent of work place fatalities in 2002, even though they
comprised only 12 percent of the U.S. work force. Overall U.S.
work place fatalities declined to 4.0 per 100,000 workers in
2002 from 5.2 per 100,000 in 1992, while fatalities among
Hispanic workers rose 57 percent to 840 in 2002 from 533 in
1992. In addition, Hispanic women had a higher incidence of
work place injury-nearly twice the rate of Hispanic men,
despite the fact that women overall have lower rates of work
place injury than men.
Debilitating injuries and illnesses -- Work days lost due to
injury and illness among all U.S. workers declined 7.6 percent
from 2000 to 2001 yet rose 3.2 percent among Hispanics. This
problem is more acute in the agriculture, forestry and fishing
industries, where Hispanic employment decreased 12.6 percent
while work days lost to injuries and illnesses increased 20
percent within this population.
Less medical access -- While Hispanic residents now comprise
approximately 13 percent of the total U.S. population, they
represent one third of the 41 million Americans with no health
insurance. Moreover, about one-third of Hispanics are
uninsured, a rate three times higher than for non-Hispanic
whites. According to a 2002 study, nearly one third of U.S.
Hispanics had not seen a physician in the past year, compared
with 16 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 12 percent of
African-Americans. Hispanics also tend to have fewer physician
visits and are less likely to seek follow-up care after being
treated in the emergency department.
Severe medical conditions -- Hispanics are also less likely to
undergo screening for major diseases such as cancer and
diabetes, even though, in 2001, an alarming 24 percent of one
subgroup, Mexican-Americans aged 45 to 74, suffered from
diabetes, compared with 7.9 percent of the general U.S.
population. Hispanics also suffer from more severe forms of
diabetes, the fastest growing disease in the U.S., and
experience higher mortality rates than whites. Also, despite
the relative youth of the Hispanic population, cardiovascular
disease is the leading cause of death among U.S. Hispanics.
Issues affecting Hispanic workers are of special interest to
Circadian, which specializes in increasing corporate
profitability and productivity by improving employee well
being in businesses with operations running outside the hours
of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. With many Hispanic workers holding more
than one job, they are essentially extended hours employees,
Aguirre said. TOP
The discrepancy of hours worked per week, when comparing
Hispanic and non-Hispanic workers, is especially significant
among workers who moonlight at a second job, Aguirre said. For
example:
*
Hispanic workers holding two jobs worked 40.8 hours per week
at their primary job and 16.7 hours at a second job, with
fully 30 percent of moonlighting Hispanics working five days
per week at their second job.
* Non-Hispanics work an average of 33.9 hours per week at a
primary job and 16.8 hours at a second job, but only 17
percent work five days per week at their second job.
Many Hispanic workers hold more than one
job for financial reasons, Aguirre said. Only one quarter of
Hispanic workers have jobs paying $35,000 or more annually,
compared with 54 percent of non-Hispanic white workers. Among
extended hours workers surveyed, fewer than one in five
Hispanics have an annual family income above $60,000 compared
with more than one in three non-Hispanics. TOP
"In some respects, U.S. Hispanics have healthier lifestyle
behaviors than non-Hispanics, with Hispanic women in
particular showing far lower rates of smoking and alcohol
consumption. But lack of continuous access to health care and
difficulties communicating with providers are resulting in
lower utilization of screening tests for major diseases and
fewer therapeutic procedures," Aguirre said. Health problems
that are prevalent within this group are exacerbated by
lifestyle challenges of over-work, family commitments and a
tendency to seek medical attention only when conditions are
much more advanced than in other populations.
Aguirre emphasized that U.S. Hispanics are not a homogeneous
group. They have significant cultural differences depending
upon whether they or their families are originally from
Mexico, Central America, Puerto Rico, South America, Cuba or
another Spanish-speaking country or region. Moreover, the
Hispanic population is relatively young compared with the
overall U.S. population: one-third are under age 18 compared
with 23 percent of whites. TOP
In addition to Spanish language programs
and other training efforts aimed at improving work place
safety, Circadian also recommends that employers consider
other programs designed to lower overall health care costs,
improve employee health and make work places safer. These
include: medical assessments of at-risk workers (particularly
those working extended hours), disease management efforts,
health promotion programs, and other safety activities aimed
at this growing population. |
