Abstract
BackgroundThroughout the United States, low-wage, minority workers are disproportionately affected by occupational illnesses and injuries. Chronic exposure to hazardous chemicals at work can lead to serious illnesses, contributing to health inequities. In this article, we expand on theories of ‘responsibilization’ in an occupational health context to reveal how responsibilities for workplace chemical exposures are negotiated by workers and owners in Latinx-owned small businesses.MethodsWe conducted semi-structured interviews with a total of 22 workers and owners in auto repair shops and beauty salons – two high-risk industries – in Southern Metropolitan Tucson. Participants were asked about their insights into workplace chemical exposures and health. A qualitative analysis team with representation from all study partner organizations collectively coded and reviewed the interview data in QSR International’s NVivo 11 and identified overarching themes across the interviews.ResultsWe identified three primary themes: 1) ambivalence toward risks in the workplace; 2) shifting responsibilities for exposure protection at work; and 3) reflections on the system behind chemical exposure risks. Participants discussed the complexities that small businesses face in reducing chemical exposures.ConclusionsThrough our analysis of the interviews, we examine how neoliberal occupational and environmental policies funnel responsibility for controlling chemical exposures down to individuals in small businesses with limited resources, obscuring the power structures that maintain environmental health injustices. We conclude with a call for upstream policy changes that more effectively regulate and hold accountable the manufacturers of chemical products used daily by small business workers.
Highlights
Throughout the United States, low-wage, minority workers are disproportionately affected by occupational illnesses and injuries
Our study seeks to answer: How is responsibility for mitigating workplace chemical exposures distributed among different occupational health actors, such as small business owners and workers, product manufacturers, and policy makers? We explore how owners and workers in Latinx-owned small businesses respond to conflicting responsibilities and negotiate the health risks of using products with chemical ingredients that they have little to no control over
We discuss three main themes that we found throughout the interviews to demonstrate how neoliberal occupational health policies obscure larger structures of power that perpetuate an increased burden of chemical exposures in low-income communities of color
Summary
Throughout the United States, low-wage, minority workers are disproportionately affected by occupational illnesses and injuries. Chronic exposure to toxic chemicals at work can lead to serious illnesses such as asthma, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and reproductive health issues [3] These morbidities contribute to existing health inequities due to workers’ limited access to affordable, quality medical care [4]. Latinx workers compose a significant portion of the low-wage labor market and are at greater risk of experiencing occupational health inequities than nonminority workers [5]. They are more likely to be employed in high-risk occupations and are exposed to heat, pesticides, hazardous chemicals, cleaning agents, and other physical hazards [6]. Reliable data about the racial/ethnic composition of workers is inconsistent [1], especially in cases involving undocumented labor [5], an AFL-CIO report showed that Latinx workers experience an 18% higher job fatality rate compared to the overall workforce [2]
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