The relations of workplace safety, perceived occupational stress, and adjustment among Latino/a immigrant cattle feedyard workers in the United States

Immigrant workers face significant occupational health and safety concerns and are often employed in dangerous, dirty, and demanding (3-D) jobs such as agriculture. To foster improvements in immigrant farm-worker health, integrative research that explores workplace safety, stress, and health and safety outcomes is needed. Therefore, the present study was designed to examine workplace safety characteristics and perceived stressors as predictors of Latino/a immigrant cattle feedyard workers' psychosocial adjustment. Data were from the Health and Safety among Immigrant Cattle Feedyard Workers in the Central States Region project, and participants included 243 Latino/a immigrant cattle feedyard workers from Kansas and Nebraska (M age = 37.68, SD = 10.10; 91.2% male). A path model including direct and indirect relations among the number of personal protective equipment and training types, safety climate, occupational stress, and adjustment outcomes (depression, anxiety, need for recovery, and life satisfaction) was examined. We found that the number of types of personal protective equipment and training positively predicted safety climate, which negatively predicted occupational stress. In turn, occupational stress was positively associated with depression, anxiety, and need for recovery, and negatively associated with life satisfaction. The present findings support the notion that workplace safety is directly associated with the health and well-being of immigrant workers and delineates the mechanisms by which workplace safety characteristics relate to workers' adjustment. This study yields supportive evidence for an ecological stress-based model of immigrant worker health and safety in U.S. Latino/a cattle feedyard workers. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.

Automated summary

Immigrant workers, especially those in jobs like agriculture, face occupational health and safety concerns. This study found that the number of types of personal protective equipment and training positively predicted safety climate, which in turn negatively predicted occupational stress. Occupational stress was associated with negative outcomes like depression and anxiety, highlighting the importance of workplace safety for immigrant workers' health and well-being.