Work Should Not Hurt You: Reduction of Hazardous Exposures in Small Businesses Through a Community Health Worker Intervention
CompletedNAResults postedLast updated 10 July 2025
What this trial tests
NA trial testing Industrial Hygiene-Enhance Community Health Worker Intervention in Community Health Aides in 268 participants. Completed in 22 January 2024.
Timeline
21 February 2020
Primary endpoint 22 January 2024
22 January 2024
Quick facts
Lead sponsor
University of Arizona
Phase
NA
Status
Completed
Study type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
randomized
Design
parallel
Masking
quadruple
Primary purpose
other
Enrollment
268
Start date
21 February 2020
Primary completion
22 January 2024
Estimated completion
22 January 2024
Sites
1 location across United States
Drugs / interventions tested
Industrial Hygiene-Enhance Community Health Worker Intervention
18 and older, any sex, with Community Health Aides or Industrial Hygiene. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.
Results — posted to ClinicalTrials.gov
Per-arm endpoint measurements with 95% confidence intervals where reported. Source: trial results section.
Change in Volatile Organic Chemical Concentrations From Pre- to Post-InterventionPrimary· 6 months
The primary outcome is the change in average total volatile organic chemical exposures for each business from pre- to post- intervention.
Group
Value
95% CI
Intervention Group - Beauty Salon
2738
1720 – 4358
Delayed Intervention Group - Beauty Salon
3875
2471 – 6077
Intervention Group - Auto Shops
523
267 – 1026
Delayed Intervention - Auto Shops
225
116 – 435
Sponsor's own description
This project aims to reduce negative health outcomes in small businesses that primarily employ high-risk Latino workers by characterizing their exposures to hazardous chemicals and assessing if a community health worker (CHW) intervention is effective at decreasing these exposures. Although preventable by definition, occupational disease and injuries are leading causes of death in the United States, with a disproportionate burden faced by Latinos. Small businesses pose a particular risk. They are more likely to employ low-wage Latino workers, and often use hazardous solvents including volatile organic chemicals that can cause asthma, cancer, cardiovascular, and neurological disease; yet their workers lack access to culturally and linguistically appropriate occupational health and pollution prevention information due to economic, physical, and social barriers. CHW-led interventions and outreach in Latino communities have documented increased access to health care and health education and reduced workplace exposures among farmworkers. CHWs are an innovative method to bridge the gap between these small business communities and other stakeholders. The proposed project will capitalize on established partnerships between the University of Arizona, the Sonora Environmental Research Institute, Inc. and the El Rio Community Health Center. A community-engaged research framework will be used to complete the following specific aims: 1) quantify and identify exposures to hazardous chemicals in the two high risk small business sectors common in our target area (i.e., auto repair shops and beauty salons); 2) work collaboratively with business owners, trade groups, workers and CHWs to design an industrial hygiene - enhanced CHW intervention tailored for each small business sector; and 3) conduct a cluster randomized trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the CHW intervention at reducing workplace exposures to volatile organic compounds and assess which factors led to successful utilization of exposure control strategies in both male and female-dominated businesses. Businesses will be randomized to either an intervention or delayed intervention group, both of which will receive incentives to participate including worksite health screenings. CHWs will work closely with business owners and employees to select and implement exposure-strategies appropriate for their worksite using a menu of complementary strategies of varying complexity and cost. This innovative project has the potential to directly reduce occupational health disparities through a CHW intervention that moves beyond providing occupational health education. The intervention will overcome current barriers by helping marginalized Latino workers and small business owners who may have limited education, literacy, and computer skills to understand the hazards associated with their work, and will empower them to have greater control over their occupational exposures, with the ultimate goal of preventing occupational disease and reducing health disparities.
Publications & conference data
1 peer-reviewed publication reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):
Publications: Europe PMC API search by NCT ID, retrieved 10 June 2026
Drug + disease cross-links: matched in real time against Drug Landscape's normalised drug + company + condition tables
Sponsor: as reported to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of Arizona
Last refreshed: 10 July 2025
Drug Landscape aggregates and links these public records for informational use only. Always verify against the primary source before clinical or regulatory decisions. Canonical URL: https://druglandscape.com/trial/NCT03455530.