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. 2019 Jul;62(7):600-608.
doi: 10.1002/ajim.22986. Epub 2019 May 18.

Work experiences of Latino building cleaners: An exploratory study

Donald E Eggerth  1 , Bermang Ortiz  1 , Brenna M Keller  1 , Michael A Flynn  1
Affiliations

Work experiences of Latino building cleaners: An exploratory study

Donald E Eggerth et al. Am J Ind Med. 2019 Jul.

Abstract

Background: There are roughly 3.8 million cleaning workers in the United States. The cleaning workforce is largely composed of women, immigrants, and ethnic minorities who receive low wages and have low education levels. They are exposed to physical, chemical, biological, and psychosocial hazards.

Methods: Qualitative methodology was used to investigate how Latino immigrants experience work as building cleaners. A grounded theory coding approach was used to analyze focus group data from 77 participants.

Results: Three major themes were identified: economic vulnerability, psychosocial stressors, and health and safety effects. Although workers are aware of the safety hazards associated with their jobs, they believe their immigration status limits employment opportunities leading them to accept poor working conditions. They work through injuries and cope psychologically through minimizing negative health impacts and normalizing work-related injuries and illnesses.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that interventions for these workers should recognize the hostile organizational and psychosocial contexts within which immigrants often work.

Keywords: Latino; building cleaners; coping; immigrants; qualitative.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

The authors declare that there are no conflict of interests.

DISCLOSURE BY AJIM EDITOR OF RECORD

Paul Landsbergis declares that he has no conflict of interest in the review and publication decision regarding this article.

References

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