Abstract:
The University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley) Labor and Occupational Health Program (LOHP), in collaboration with the University of Washington (UofW) Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center (PNASH) and the Northwest Forest Worker Center (NFWC), are developing resources to assist employers and contractor supervisors in the forestry services industry in training workers concerning workplace health and safety. These resources will be designed as “story” guides intended to educate workers about ways to prevent work-related injury and illness. These resources will principally focus on reaching documented and undocumented Latino forestry workers, who make up a large proportion of the workforce. After an initial needs assessment conducted with employers and supervisors, draft versions of these training resources will then be pilot-tested. The educational materials will be focused on a specific story from interviews conducted with forestry workers and developed in a fotonovela style versus a tail-gate health and safety guideline.Tail-gate safety materials are 15-20 minuet meetings at the site that guide the supervisor on what and what not to do in a hazardous situation. Although, these materials have been proven effective, through our research, it has been shown that health and safety materials that portray a story involving injury and consequence, engages the worker that results in open discussions and takes on a more personal tone. Two types of graphic stories were developed; one with drawn illustrations, another with pictures that are set up as a foto-novela, and a third with no illustrations. Fotonovelas are popular among the Latino community and are action pictures that portray the story. The results of employer interviews agreed with the use of fotonovelas. Educational materials were then designed and developed for pilot testing.Fotonovelas Developed as Health and Safety Training Materials to Increase Worker Safety Awareness with Hispanic Forestry Workers in Medford, OR