In Connecticut, the work-related fatality rate for Hispanic/Latino workers is approximately three-times higher than the rate for non-Hispanic/Latino workers. Studies have shown that Hispanic/Latino workers routinely receive inadequate health and safety training despite working in high-risk jobs, and those workers with limited English proficiency receive the least amount of training. Approximately 50% of English as a Second Language(ESL) students in Connecticut are of Hispanic/Latino origin, and by definition, as ESL students, have limited English proficiency, which puts them at higher risk for workplace injury or death.
METHODS:
The Connecticut Departments of Public Health, Education, and Labor, as well as the Capitol Regional Education Council (CREC) and Move Up! formed a partnership to pilot the Workplace Health and Safety ESOL Curriculum (developed by the Labor Extension Programs of the University of Massachusetts) in our state. The goal of this partnership was to help ESL students learn about workplace health and safety and their rights as workers, by integrating these messages into the current ESL curriculum. The curriculum uses learner-centered activities to engage students in discussions and build on their personal experiences while utilizing their English language skills.
RESULTS:
Eight current adult ESL teachers in Connecticut were trained on the Workplace Health and Safety ESOL Curriculummaterials and how to integrate these materials into their current curriculum. In addition, these teachers were educated about the disproportionate risks many of their students face in the workplace, the challenges posed to them by workplace health and safety trainings and hazard warning signage exclusively provided in English, and the lack of knowledge of their student population about basic worker rights that many American-born adults take for granted.
CONCLUSIONS:
Integrating workplace health and safety messages and information about workers’ rights into the adult ESL curriculum in Connecticut should serve to increase the knowledge of students and teachers in these programs about disproportionate risks to Hispanic/Latino workers in the workplace. It is our goal in the coming year to collect information from teachers and students in the pilot program, and to use that information to expand the utilization of these curriculum modules to other adult ESL teachers in the state.