The mission of the New York Restaurant Worker Health & Safety Project is to improve working conditions of immigrant restaurant workers in New York City in order to reduce occupational injuries and illnesses. This mission requires fulfilling these long-term objectives: a) documenting existing job hazards, injuries and illness in the restaurant industry; b) developing feasible and effective model practices in ergonomics and work organization for restaurants; c) creating a new understanding and leadership in occupational safety and health among immigrant restaurant workers; and d) engaging restaurant owners, public health officials and other decision-makers in developing policies and practices that will foster restaurant occupational safety and health. To achieve these objectives, a set of interdependent activities are proposed, including: 1) creation of a Restaurant Safety & Health Task Force to govern the project; 2) design and test of a set of improved ergonomic and work organizational conditions in a model cooperatively-owned restaurant; 3) creation and training of occupational health promoters among interested restaurant workers and their subsequent use as teachers; 4) quantitative, quantitative, and clinical assessment of the nature and extent of work-related hazards, injuries and illnesses among restaurant workers; and 5) a set of specific dissemination methods, including an employer technical assistance service, a Restaurant Industry Summit, and publication of industry-specific health service and workplace guidelines. The consortium that proposes this work hasessential elements that make program success likely - a restaurant workers' center (Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York), a community-based immigrant services organization (Latin American Integration Center), a university-based occupational health research institute (Queens College Center for the Biology of Natural Systems), and a public hospital (Elmhurst Hospital). A unique feature of this project is the oppportunity (heretofore rare in occupational health) to design, evaluate, and modify a model commercial kitchen and restaurant to identify features that can minimize risk of injury and illness. Additional strengths include the prominence of the targeted-population in the design, governance, implementation, and budget of the project and a dynamic, experienced, and highly complementary consortium.
