Using community-based participatory research to design and initiate a study on immigrant worker health and safety in San Francisco's Chinatown restaurants.

BACKGROUND Restaurant workers have among the highest rates of work-related illness and injury in the US, but little is known about the working conditions and occupational health status of Chinese immigrant restaurant workers. METHODS Community-based participatory research (CBPR) was employed to study restaurant working conditions and worker health in San Francisco's Chinatown. A community/academic/health department collaborative was formed and 23 restaurant workers trained on research techniques and worker health and safety. A worker survey instrument and a restaurant observational checklist were collaboratively developed. The checklist was piloted in 71 Chinatown restaurants, and the questionnaire administered to 433 restaurant workers. RESULTS Restaurant workers, together with other partners, made substantial contributions to construction of the survey and checklist tools and improved their cultural appropriateness. The utility of the checklist tool for restaurant-level data collection was demonstrated. CONCLUSIONS CBPR holds promise for both studying worker health and safety among immigrant Chinese restaurant workers and developing culturally appropriate research tools. A new observational checklist also has potential for restaurant-level data collection on worker health and safety conditions.