Highly Educated Immigrant Workers' Perspectives of Occupational Health and Safety and Work Conditions That Challenge Work Safety

Janki Shankar*, Daniel Lai, Shu-Ping Chen, Tanvir C Turin, Shawn Joseph, Ellen Mi

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

This study explored the perspectives of new immigrant workers regarding occupational health and safety and workplace conditions that increase workers' vulnerability to sustaining injury or illness. Using an interpretive research approach and semi-structured qualitative interviews, 42 new immigrant workers from a range of industries operating in two cities in a province in Canada were interviewed. Seventy-nine percent of the workers were highly qualified. A constant comparative approach was used to identify key themes across the workers' experiences. The findings revealed that new immigrant workers have an incomplete understanding of occupational health and safety. In many workplaces, poor job training, little worker support, lack of power in the workplace, and a poor workplace safety culture make it difficult for workers to acquire occupational health and safety information and to implement safe work practices. This study proposes workplace policies and practices that will improve worker occupational health and safety awareness and make workplaces safer for new immigrant workers.

Original languageEnglish
Article number8757
Number of pages18
JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume19
Issue number14
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Jul 2022

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Pollution
  • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

User-Defined Keywords

  • practice
  • workplace challenges
  • highly qualified
  • new immigrant workers
  • occupational health and safety
  • policy

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