For the purposes of developing a strategy for the preparation and dissemination of Spanish-language materials, it is particularly important to know something about the English language abilities of this population. In other words, what is the population of Spanish-speaking workers whose English is insufficient to enable us to reach them effectively with Occupational Safety and Health materials in English? The census survey addressed this question, asking about the individual’s ability to speak English and found the following results:

Thus, there are an estimated 18.5 million working age people in the United States, for whom Spanish is the primary language. It is perhaps surprising to find that some two-thirds of these individuals report being able to speak English “well” or “very well.” The remaining approximately 5.96 million report speaking English “not well” or “not at all.” It is also important to remember that there is a substantial population of immigrants working in the United States without legal documents, a high percentage of whom speak little or no English, and who were missed in the census count. Despite a more successful effort at a comprehensive count in 2000 than in previous censuses, a certain degree of under-counting among recent immigrants was inevitable.

An analysis of the records of 1,668 Hispanic immigrant job seekers at a community center in Durham, North Carolina, for example, found that a much lower proportion spoke good or fluent English than that found in the census. The analysis broke down as follows:

It should be noted that this group of immigrants is primarily composed of recent immigrants from Mexico and Central America and may not be representative of the Latino population of the area as a whole. However, it is representative of the recent Latino immigrant population, which is likely to be working in the highest risk jobs in this country. The discrepancy regarding English-language capacity with the census figures—with less than 13 percent of this group speaking English well—is

Front Matter (R1-R10)

Executive Summary (1-4)

1 Introduction (5-6)

2 Hispanic/Latino Occupational Health and Safety: Available Information and Information Gaps (7-16)

3 What Information Exists and What Are the Gaps? (17-18)

4 Development and Evaluation of Materials (19-22)

5 Delivery Mode (23-26)

6 Overarching Issues (27-30)

References (31-32)

Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members (33-36)

Appendix B: Workshop Agenda (37-38)

Appendix C: Workshop Participants (39-42)

Appendix D: White Paper on Hispanic Workers in the United States: An Analysis of Employment Distributions, Fatal Occupational Injuries, and Non-fatal Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (43-82)

Appendix E: White Paper on an Examination of Occupational Safety and Health Materials Currently Available in Spanish for Workers as of 1999 (83-92)

Appendix F: White Paper on Reaching Spanish-speaking Workers and Employers with Occupational Safety and Health Information (93-112)

Appendix G: White Paper on an Examination of the Occupational Risks and Occupational Safety and Health Communication Needs of Spanish-speaking Children Who Are Employed or Live on Farms (113-128)

Appendix H: White Paper on Occupational Health Among Latino Workers: A Needs Assessment and Recommended Interventions (129-150)