Environmental Factor – December 2024: Worker Training Program Highlights Hazards in Emerging Industries

The 2024 Fall Worker Training Program (WTP) Awardees Meeting and Workshop, October 22-24, brought awardees together to discuss how to address threats in emerging and rapidly evolving industries. One example is the danger of silica dust to workers in the growing industrial stone finishing industry. The challenges posed by exposures such as this are not yet fully understood and require further attention.

Bob Harrison, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, spoke about the increase in silicosis cases among workers who cut engineered stone for products such as countertops. Silicosis is a lung disease caused by inhaling fine quartz sand and can be fatal if not detected in time. Many people affected need a lung transplant to recover.

“Engineered stone is a $25 billion industry worldwide,” Harrison explained. “The problem is that it is 95% silica. There was a silicosis epidemic everywhere it came onto the market.”

Harrison explained that protective training, equipment and cutting techniques were critical to protecting workers from silicosis, but many employers offered inadequate protection measures. He expressed hope that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and state regulations can be updated to address these dangers. Another dynamic that makes this industry dangerous is the prevalence of stonemasons without health and safety training. Many of them are uninsured, lack access to workers' compensation, and may be afraid to report their illness because of possible workplace retaliation.

Not difficult to get to, but hardly achieved

Workshop participants highlighted and shared their strategies for providing health and safety training opportunities to hard-to-reach workers. These workers may be day laborers, untrained people, or former prisoners.

One topic was adapting the training for non-English speakers. Kevin Riley, Ph.D., of the Western Region Universities Consortium, presented heat safety training materials his organization created for speakers of Indigenous languages. Arturo Archila of the Labor Institute, a long-time partner of the Steelworkers Charitable and Educational Organization, highlighted his organization's efforts to incorporate images into its materials to communicate without language.

Workshop participants also discussed ways to protect underreached populations who are at higher risk of labor exploitation. Nadia Marin-Molina, JD, of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), spoke about ensuring justice and safety for those overlooked in the workforce, such as contract workers, untrained workers and day laborers. She described NDLON's Deferred Action for Labor Enforcement (DALE) campaign, which works to ensure that employers provide a workplace free from recognized hazards that could cause death or serious physical harm to workers, as in the General duty clause of OSHA required. DALE explains how workers can report health and safety violations, wage theft, etc., and cooperate with government investigations without protecting themselves.

Additionally, the WTP Award-winning Sustainable Workplace Alliance (SWA) reported on its job training efforts for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals. Executive Director David Casavant spoke about the upcoming SWA Environmental Justice Training Course for Incarcerated People. He highlighted challenges such as stigma, but also highlighted the benefits of helping this under-reached group to reintegrate.

Form partnerships, move forward

While the WTP honorees brought many problems to light, they also offered solutions and best practices. The meeting's focus on strategic partnerships – such as those entered into by WTP with awardees and that awardees form with each other – stimulated conversations and potentially even closer collaboration between awardees in the future.

“Ask yourself, 'What do I want to spend time doing in this group?'” WTP Director Sharon Beard told attendees. “The expertise in this space is enormous. Look where you can build those alliances.”