Documenting and Understanding Workplace Injuries Among Latino Day Laborers

Background. Latino day laborers face substantial injuries at work. We present a comprehensive assessment of their injury experience and explore the predictors of selfreported injuries. Methods. Worker and injury characteristics were collected from 331 day laborers using an innnovative injury assessment tool. The odds of injury were estimated using a logistic regression. Results. Participants were foreign-born, Spanish monolingual, and employed in construction. Sixty-seven individuals reported 88 past-year injuries, mostly involving the upper or lower extremities. Injuries were caused by moving heavy objects, falling, or being struck an object. Of the documented injuries, 24% were not reported at work due to fear of being fired; 64.4% resulted in missed workdays, 54.0% in temporary incapacitation, and 34.5% in permanent incapacitation. Being married significantly reduced the odds of reporting an injury. Discussion. Better documentation can inform the development of better policy protections that ameliorate injuries experienced by Latino day laborers at the workplace.