Report Finds Heat Illness Campaign Succeeded
The Cal/OSHA campaign during summer 2010 reached out to low-wage, non-English-speaking outdoor workers in the state's hottest regions through media coverage, billboards, posters, ads on lunch trucks and vans, and radio ads.
A new report finds Cal/OSHA's summer 2010 campaign succeeded at educating low-wage, non-English-speaking outdoor construction and agricultural workers in the hottest parts of California about heat illness prevention. The campaign attracted media coverage and used billboards, posters, ads on lunch trucks and vans, and radio ads. Promotional items, including bandanas, keychains, stickers, caps, clipboards, playing cards, and lip balm, were distributed.
Print ads were created in Spanish, English, Hmong, and Punjabi and radio ads in Spanish, Hmong, and Mixteco. A total of 178 community organizations were contacted, many of which distributed literature about the campaign.
"Workers showed a significant increase in their self-reported heat illness prevention behaviors after exposure to the campaign," according to the report's executive summary. "More workers are drinking water, resting in the shade, and talking to their employers and supervisors about heat prevention."
The campaign's website had 9,497 visits by 6,540 unique visitors from June to November 2010. In addition, the report says 125 people from 66 organizations attended the eight train-the-trainer programs held during July and August in English or Spanish in Fresno, Mendota, Davis, Modesto, Visalia, Los Angeles, and San Diego, and follow-up surveys indicated the organizations did their own outreach and education that reach an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 workers.