Work organization and occupational health: perspectives from Latinos employed on crop and horse breeding farms

Background: Agriculture is hazardous and increasingly dependent on Latino workers, a vulnerable population. However, little research has studied how work organization influences Latino farmworker health.

Methods: Using a work organization framework, this cross-sectional study describes and compares the work organization and occupational health characteristics of a sample of Latino crop (n = 49) and horse production (n = 54) workers in Kentucky.

Results: Crop workers experienced more physical demands, work-related and environmental stressors, and musculoskeletal and ill-health symptoms. Significantly more crop workers indicated work-related illness or missed work due to work-related illness/injury, though one-fourth of both groups reported work-related injury in the past year. A majority of both groups cited exposure to toxic chemicals, a minority of whom received training on their use.

Conclusion: Further surveillance is needed to understand the rate and precursors of illness/injury in these populations, as is research on the relationship between supervisory practices, psychosocial stressors, and occupational health.