La santé et la sécurité au travail des travailleurs immigrants à Montréal : résultats d’une enquête exploratoire

Immigrant workers have always made up a significant part of the blue-collar workforce in Montreal. These workers have to work to survive. Work is also their principal strategy for integration, and also one of the main reasons for emigrating. They agree to work in precarious conditions because of the...

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Main Authors: Sylvie Gravel, Laurence Boucheron, Michel Kane
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institut de Recherche Robert-Sauvé en Santé et en Sécurité du Travail (IRSST) 2003-05-01
Series:Perspectives Interdisciplinaires sur le Travail et la Santé
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/pistes/3347
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author Sylvie Gravel
Laurence Boucheron
Michel Kane
author_facet Sylvie Gravel
Laurence Boucheron
Michel Kane
author_sort Sylvie Gravel
collection DOAJ
description Immigrant workers have always made up a significant part of the blue-collar workforce in Montreal. These workers have to work to survive. Work is also their principal strategy for integration, and also one of the main reasons for emigrating. They agree to work in precarious conditions because of their own volatile economic situation, their difficulties with the languages of the host society, and the fact that they have no social or professional network of their own. Immigrant workers are usually unaware of their rights because they often come from countries that have few or no workplace safety standards. In response to a request from community groups supporting immigrant integration and assimilation into the workforce, and from organizations defending the victims of occupational accidents, the Montreal Public Health Department conducted an exploratory survey, the results of which are presented in this article. The survey was conducted from October 2000 to March 2001 with 17 key informants from community organizations, occupational health institutions and research centres. Semi-structured interviews were carried out in the workplace or by telephone, based on a sample of organizations selected because of their social mandate. The results show that public health and occupational safety agencies are not in a position to demonstrate the extent or severity of accidents among immigrant workers, since there are no epidemiological data to document either the situation of the workers or their immigration patterns. Moreover, the survey enabled us to outline the various viewpoints contributing to an analysis of the workers’ needs ; these contradictory viewpoints emerged not only from occupational health and safety agencies, but also from unions and community groups. Finally, the study allowed us to determine the pertinence of continuing our work on the factors that facilitate and limit access to compensation for immigrant workers who have suffered work injuries.
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spelling doaj-art-359ad3ad4ec54192b80e388010ee99792025-01-09T16:01:53ZengInstitut de Recherche Robert-Sauvé en Santé et en Sécurité du Travail (IRSST)Perspectives Interdisciplinaires sur le Travail et la Santé1481-93842003-05-015110.4000/pistes.3347La santé et la sécurité au travail des travailleurs immigrants à Montréal : résultats d’une enquête exploratoireSylvie GravelLaurence BoucheronMichel KaneImmigrant workers have always made up a significant part of the blue-collar workforce in Montreal. These workers have to work to survive. Work is also their principal strategy for integration, and also one of the main reasons for emigrating. They agree to work in precarious conditions because of their own volatile economic situation, their difficulties with the languages of the host society, and the fact that they have no social or professional network of their own. Immigrant workers are usually unaware of their rights because they often come from countries that have few or no workplace safety standards. In response to a request from community groups supporting immigrant integration and assimilation into the workforce, and from organizations defending the victims of occupational accidents, the Montreal Public Health Department conducted an exploratory survey, the results of which are presented in this article. The survey was conducted from October 2000 to March 2001 with 17 key informants from community organizations, occupational health institutions and research centres. Semi-structured interviews were carried out in the workplace or by telephone, based on a sample of organizations selected because of their social mandate. The results show that public health and occupational safety agencies are not in a position to demonstrate the extent or severity of accidents among immigrant workers, since there are no epidemiological data to document either the situation of the workers or their immigration patterns. Moreover, the survey enabled us to outline the various viewpoints contributing to an analysis of the workers’ needs ; these contradictory viewpoints emerged not only from occupational health and safety agencies, but also from unions and community groups. Finally, the study allowed us to determine the pertinence of continuing our work on the factors that facilitate and limit access to compensation for immigrant workers who have suffered work injuries.https://journals.openedition.org/pistes/3347work injuryrisk factoreconomic integrationmigration patternsimmigrant workers
spellingShingle Sylvie Gravel
Laurence Boucheron
Michel Kane
La santé et la sécurité au travail des travailleurs immigrants à Montréal : résultats d’une enquête exploratoire
Perspectives Interdisciplinaires sur le Travail et la Santé
work injury
risk factor
economic integration
migration patterns
immigrant workers
title La santé et la sécurité au travail des travailleurs immigrants à Montréal : résultats d’une enquête exploratoire
title_full La santé et la sécurité au travail des travailleurs immigrants à Montréal : résultats d’une enquête exploratoire
title_fullStr La santé et la sécurité au travail des travailleurs immigrants à Montréal : résultats d’une enquête exploratoire
title_full_unstemmed La santé et la sécurité au travail des travailleurs immigrants à Montréal : résultats d’une enquête exploratoire
title_short La santé et la sécurité au travail des travailleurs immigrants à Montréal : résultats d’une enquête exploratoire
title_sort la sante et la securite au travail des travailleurs immigrants a montreal resultats d une enquete exploratoire
topic work injury
risk factor
economic integration
migration patterns
immigrant workers
url https://journals.openedition.org/pistes/3347
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