A Joint Declaration signed last month by U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and Mexico Secretary for Foreign Affairs Luis Ernesto Derbez is an excellent step toward improving workplace safety for Mexican-born workers in this country, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
“Hispanic workers are a vital and valued source of labor for home building in this country, and it’s essential to ensure that they and anyone for whom English may not be a primary language have the training that can keep them safe on the jobsite just as others do,” said NAHB President Bobby Rayburn, a home and apartment builder from Jackson, Miss. “The nation’s home builders commend Secretaries Chao and Derbez for signifying our countries’ ongoing commitment to protecting those workers’ health and well-being.”
NAHB and its 215,000 members share in this commitment, and are doing their part to promote workplace safety through a recently signed alliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Rayburn noted.
The alliance focuses on providing NAHB members and others in the residential construction industry with information, training opportunities and guidance that will help in reducing and preventing exposure to residential construction industry hazards. A specific emphasis is on increasing access to this safety information for Spanish-speaking workers. In a related move,