Occupational Health Internship Project (OHIP)
Gain Hands-On Experience with Workplace Safety and Health Issues!
Summary
Each summer LOSH offers four to six occupational health and safety internships to students committed to working in partnership with workers and their organizations for social justice. Student interns spend eight weeks working and learning about the field of occupational health and safety through an experiential process involving worker interviews, worksite tours, and team research. Research projects range from an examination of musculoskeletal disorders among hotel and garment workers to injuries, chemical, and heat exposure facing day laborers in the construction industry. Teams produce a final report to share with workers and other student teams. Commitment is full time for eight weeks with possible evening or weekend meetings, depending on the project.
2009 Southern California Interns and Their Projects
Program Dates: June 15 - August 7, 2009
- Occupational Hazards of Port Truck Drivers in Southern California
LAANE (Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy)
IBT (International Brotherhood of Teamsters)
UCLA-LOSH
- Green Jobs, Good Jobs: Safe Jobs in Building Retrofits
Los Angeles Apollo Alliance
SEIU Local 721
PIPE and other Building Trades locals
- Occupational Hazards: Coping Mechanisms of Household Workers
IDEPSCA (Institute of Popular Education of Southern California)
- Hotel Housekeepers: Cleaning Agents and Ergo Hazards
UNITE-HERE Local 30 - San Diego
 |
 |
These six 2009 interns placed with LOSH were assigned to investigate working conditions of
three diverse groups in Los Angeles - ports truck drivers, those |
San Diego intern Lynelle Garnica, an Environmental Health MPH student at San Diego State University, worked with UNITE HERE Local 30 to investigate potential hazards of cleaning chemicals used by housekeepers at a large resort |
Ports Truck Drivers
Interns Christina Kaoh and Natalie Price worked with the Teamsters Port Trucker Division and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) to document occupational health differences between employee and independent truck drivers at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. Specifically, they explored how accidents and injuries are investigated and differences in the health and safety conditions for independently contracted truck drivers versus employee truck drivers.
Ms. Kaoh is a second-year Master's in Public Policy student at Harvard University. She graduated from UCLA with a B.A. degree in Geography and a minor in Labor and Workplace Studies in 2006 then subsequently organized nurses in Southern California before beginning her graduate studies. She was interested in coupling her previous organizing experience with new research skills in the occupational health field and was thrilled to return to the vibrant and diverse City of Angels to participate in OHIP.
Ms. Price, a UCLA student who just earned her bachelor's degree in International Development Studies with a minor in Public Health. This fall, she will begin pursuing her MPH at UCLA in Community Health Sciences. As a student of public health Ms. Price feels that occupational safety and health is an extremely important way to protect worker's rights and ensure their wellbeing. She believes that every worker has the right to a safe working environment and health care services.
Final Product: The interns compiled a report for the Teamsters and LAANE based on the 161 interviews conducted with workers.
Green Jobs, Good Jobs, Safe Jobs: Workers involved with Green Building Retrofits
Interns Jean Christophe Le and Maya Saraf explored the topic of green jobs which has recently received widespread attention as one solution to solving the current environmental and economic crises. Two OHIP interns worked with building trades and public sector unions under the umbrella of the Los Angeles Apollo Alliance to identify potential worker health and safety hazards and benefits of green building retrofits. In consultation with the maintenance and janitorial staff of city buildings (SEIU 721) and with PIPE and other Building Trades staff, the interns analyzed the job tasks that comprise initial retrofits as well as ongoing operations, maintenance, custodial, and landscape services that contribute to enhanced energy efficiency, water conservation, use of safer cleaning chemicals and improved indoor air quality.
Mr. Le's interest in pursuing a career in safety was sparked when a guest speaker from Cal/OSHA came to his chemistry class when he was attending community college. There Mr. Le accumulated numerous academic, service, and student government-related honors. He transferred to the University of Southern California with a President's scholarship, and then obtained a B.S. degree in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Currently he is pursuing a MPH with emphasis on Biostatistics and Epidemiology at USC. He stated that “My enthusiasm for solving complex problems and making meaningful changes made it easy for me to see myself becoming safety personnel.“
Ms. Saraf just completed the Masters Program in Urban Planning at UCLA this past June. She became interested in Occupational Safety and Health through both urban planning and public health classes that she took, most especially in how worker health and safety was being addressed with the larger movement around sustainability and green buildings.
Final Product: The interns created a green retrofit matrix table for the Los Angeles Apollo Alliance, which is an educational tool that provides a quick way to glance at all of the potential benefits and hazards of highlighted green retrofits that may affect the three categories of workers.
Household Workers
Interns Nancy Zuniga and Ruby Gonzalez used a community partner approach to create a surveillance system designed by and for workers to document occupational exposures and assess the impact these exposures have on household worker's health. This was needed since household workers compose a large part of the unseen immigrant workforce who clean homes, care for children, do laundry, cook meals, and perform other household duties and it is necessary to better understand the occupational hazards and coping mechanisms of these women in order to improve their working conditions. This project was completed in collaboration with the non-profit organization, IDEPSCA (Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California), which works to empower and educate immigrant communities interested in solving problems existing in their own communities.
Ms. Zuniga received her B.S. degree in Chemistry and minor in Latin American Studies from UCLA. As an undergraduate, she was part of several student organizations that focused on helping to improve access to healthcare for underserved communities. A future health advocate, Ms. Zuniga applied for the internship because she was interested in understanding more about health and safety in the workplace. She plans to pursue a Master's degree in Public Health to continue helping people through advocacy, research and education to improve their health and well-being.
Ms. Gonzalez is a second year medical student at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. As a future physician, she believes that it is important to understand occupational health and safety because many health problems can arise in the workplace.
Final products: The interns composed a report for IDEPSCA based on the results of the focus group, they did a poster presentation to the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and were planning a follow-up focus group with the workers to discuss their results and offer recommendations.
Hotel Housekeepers – Cleaning Agents and Ergo Hazards – San Diego
There are more occupational health studies that focus on chemical exposure and health issues arising from prolonged and repeated use of cleaning products in occupations such as janitors and hospital cleaners than there are of hotel housekeepers. Housekeepers have more reports and research conducted in the arena of ergonomics due to their strenuous work practices. With little research in the area of chemical exposure among this largely female Latino, Spanish-speaking immigrant workforce, the 2009 interns focused on the health and safety hazards that arise from the daily use of hotel cleaning and the role these potentially hazardous cleaning agents play on the workers’ health.
During the summer of 2008, OHIP interns in San Diego surveyed the working conditions of hotel housekeepers represented by UNITE HERE Local 30. They found serious workplace hazards among the workers who reported using a pink liquid cleaner, which is ammonia based cleaner, and experiencing various symptoms such as breathing problems and nosebleeds. Building on the previous summer’s work, the 2009 interns focused on hotel housekeepers at the La Costa Resort and the Hotel Del Coronado. The interns observed the hotel housekeepers at work and documented their use of the pink liquid and other work practices such as the strenuous bed-making. They conducted small group interviews with the workers, which focused on their health and safety and an educational/focus group meeting with the workers where they disseminated an informative brochure that had user-friendly MSDS information about the chemicals they use and resources.
Final Product: The interns created a two-sided fact sheet in Spanish and English with information on chemical hazards, PPE, first aid steps, workers’ rights and contacts and resource information for the workers. They also compiled a list of chemicals and their potential health effects for the workers and UNITE HERE to use for future workshops to union staff and hotel housekeepers.
 |
 |
Cal/OSHA Regional Manager discusses the agency's consultation and enforcement services and career opportunities during a visit to LOSH |
Los Angeles OHIP interns listen intently |
 |
 |
Los Angeles & San Diego interns shared their projects via videoconference on August 5, 2009 |
LOSH staff mentors Ingrid Zubieta, Kevin Riley and Jessica Marques |
 |
 |
| IDEPSCA interns with their sponsor Marlom Portillo at videoconference | Washington, DC funding agency representatives with the NewYork interns and their union sponsor |
Follow the link to view an entire summary of all OHIP Projects conducted across the country in 2008. For more information on future OHIP projects in Los Angeles, please contact Ingrid Zubieta in the LOSH offices.
OHIP Internship Details
 |
| 2008 Interns placed in Los Angeles and San Diego gathered for a videoconference with New York, San Francisco Bay Area and the supporting agencies in Washington, DC to present their projects. |
The Occupational Health Internship Program (OHIP) is housed under the auspices of the Association of Occupational of Environmental Clinics (AOEC) with internships and training centers in the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles, San Diego and New York. UCLA LOSH manages the internship program in Los Angeles.
The purpose of OHIP is to provide an experiential learning process: students learn about the field of occupational health and safety from the perspective of workers. Unlike typical internships that place students in corporate settings, OHIP assigns students with unions, worker centers, and community-based organizations. This provides students the opportunity to learn directly from those with most at stake; the workers. The skills and interests of the interns are linked with the needs of workers' health and safety concerns.
Students work in teams of two, typically a graduate and undergraduate student, and collaborate with a workplace sponsor on a particular occupational health project that addresses specific concerns raised by workers. Supervision and mentorship is provided by senior occupational health researchers from UC Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego State University, and the California Department of Public Health.
 |
| 2008 OHIP interns with their Mentors from United Steelworkers. |
The interns receive supervision from health and safety mentors who provide technical and scientific expertise. With guidance from the mentors, interns identify and document safety and health problems, recommend ways to reduce or eliminate hazards, and share this information with workers and employers through educational sessions. Not only does this strengthen the student's investigative and technical skills, it also empowers the workers.
The students based at UCLA-LOSH have played an integral role in improving health and safety conditions across various occupations. Their accomplishments include:
- Contributing to negotiating health and safety committees in union contracts
- Educating hundreds of workers on various health and safety topics
- Opening communication lines between workers and management
- Designing and distributed numerous educational materials
Qualifications
- Undergraduate or graduate students with at least two years of study in a field related to public health, environmental studies, or public policy. Graduate students in public health, medicine and nursing are also encouraged to apply.
- Experience or interest in working with unions or social justice organizations.
- Organized, self-starting, and have good team skills.
- Ideally speak a second language of new immigrant workers (Spanish, Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese, etc.) or come from minority and recent immigrant groups.
Some stipend slots are restricted to U.S. citizens. Non-U.S. citizens must supply documentation of permission to work in the U.S.
How to Apply
Download an application and read instructions on the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics (AOEC) website. You may also contact the AOEC at (888) 347-2632 for more information.
Compensation
- Undergraduates: $500 per week (eight weeks)
- Graduate, medical, nursing students: $650 per week (eight weeks)
Funding/Sponsorship
Support for the OHIP Program comes from both multiyear grants through the National Institute for Occupational, Safety and Health (NIOSH) and The California Wellness Foundation, as well as stipends and in-kind donations through the California Department of Public Health, the UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health (LOSH Program), the Labor Occupational Health Program (LOHP)-UC Berkeley, and other academic institutions, non-profit organizations and volunteers. These latter funding mechanisms vary from summer to summer. A complete list of funders for a specific summer is available from the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics,
888-347-2632.