US Department of Labor, Mexican Consulate in Albuquerque alliance seeks to protect safety, health of West Texas’ workers

News Brief

Participants: U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational

Safety and Health Administration

Mexican Consulate, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Alliance description: On June 8, 2023, OSHA's area offices in El Paso and Lubbock, Texas, and the Albuquerque Mexican Consulate entered into a two-year alliance to provide Spanish-speaking workers in West Texas with information, guidance and access to workers’ rights resources.

The alliance provides workplace safety and health outreach and training to the region's Mexican nationals, including materials for Spanish-speaking workers about their rights, OSHA standards and other assistance. Workers will be provided with information on safety and health issues such as falls from elevated work surfaces, electrocution, heat illness, exposure to hazardous chemicals, struck-by and caught-in or -between hazards.

Background: OSHA's Alliance Program works with groups committed to worker safety and health to prevent workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses. These groups include unions, consulates, trade or professional organizations, businesses, faith- and community-based organizations, and educational institutions. OSHA and the groups work together to develop compliance assistance tools and resources, share information with workers and employers and educate workers and employers about their rights and responsibilities.

Quote: "OSHA's alliance with the Mexican Consulate in Albuquerque will prevent many Spanish-speaking people working in West Texas from needless injuries or worse," explained OSHA Area Director Elizabeth Linda Routh in Lubbock, Texas. "Every U.S. worker has the right to a safe workplace and to receive information in their own language."

"Working with the Mexican Consulate in Albuquerque will help us reach many workers who might not otherwise have access to this important information," explained OSHA Area Diego Alvarado in El Paso, Texas. "By breaking down the language barrier, we can help these workers understand the rights to be protected from needless harm."