title: Occupational safety beliefs among Latino residential roofing workers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This analysis describes beliefs about work safety and personal protective equipment (PPE) among Latino roofing workers, it delineates their perceptions of work environment characteristics that affect work safety and PPE use, and it describes how they experience work injuries and the consequences of these injuries.
  
  
  METHODS
  In-depth interviews were completed with 10 current and former Latino residential roofers. Interview transcripts were subjected to systematic qualitative analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants' valued productivity over safety, and this had a negative influence on their safety behavior and reduced their PPE use. They understood that roofing was hazardous. They limited use of PPE when they felt it reduced productivity and when it was uncomfortable. Work environment characteristics that affected safety included company size, the physical demands of the job, lack of training, the need for work, general life stress, and distractions at work. An injury had to result in lost work time to be considered significant. Access to health care is limited by employers not providing Workers' compensation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Future research is needed to substantiate these descriptive results and to delineate factors that are associated with safety behavior and use of PPE. Interventions, based on a lay health educator model, are needed to improve safety in this population. Safety regulations need to be evaluated and their enforcement needs to be improved.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Center for Worker Health, Wake Forest School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Thomas A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Arcury
authors.forename: Phillip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Summers
authors.forename: Lourdes
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Carrillo
authors.forename: Joseph G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Grzywacz
authors.forename: Sara A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Quandt
authors.forename: Thomas H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Mills
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D060389:Construction Industry; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D054525:Minority Health; D016272:Occupational Health; D011482:Protective Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012449:Safety; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Latinos; construction; immigrant workers; minority health; safety beliefs