By the
2008 AASCIF Communications Standing Committee
 Arizona’s
job market depends on Latino workers as the ethnic group makes
up nearly 30 percent of the state’s population, according
to a recently released Pew Hispanic Center study.
With a large part of the workforce speaking only Spanish, many
workers fail to receive the workplace safety information they need
to prevent on-the-job injuries. This is why SCF Arizona launched
in 2007 an initiative to reach these workers and teach them about
workplace safety and their workers’ compensation rights.
As the largest provider of workers’ compensation insurance
and the leading advocate of workplace safety in Arizona, SCF views
the initiative as a proactive effort to eliminate workplace accidents
and injuries caused by language or cultural barriers.
“No one should have to die or be injured at work because
he doesn’t speak English,” says SCF Arizona’s
President & CEO Don Smith.
SCF’s plan uses print, radio, television, the Internet and
in-house publications. It also includes identifying nonprofit organizations
in Arizona that target the Hispanic community – such as Chicanos
por la Causa, Valle del Sol and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce – and
providing sponsorships, donations and outreach to them.
With the help of a media consultant, Jay Thorne, SCF developed
short, simple, animated TV spots for the major Spanish TV outlet
in Phoenix and Tucson. The 15-second spots humorously recreate
a safety hazard and remind viewers that they have a right to workers’ compensation
benefits if they are injured.
SCF reached an arrangement with Phoenix’s highest rated
Spanish radio station to sponsor morning remote broadcasts for
four months. This agreement provided SCF with signage and giveaway
opportunities at each venue. It also included monthly on-air interviews
on the station’s most popular talk show regarding workers’ compensation
issues.
Along with ads in Spanish-language newspapers to promote SCF’s
Safety Works Expos in Phoenix, Tucson and Yuma, agreements were
made with two magazines that target the Hispanic community. In
Latino Futures magazine, SCF submits an article every other month
that focuses on a specific safety issue. The article is translated
into Spanish and both versions are printed. In Latino Perspectives,
SCF profiles a Spanish-speaking policyholder’s business.
SCF hired a full-time translator, who translates English-written
safety and workers’ compensation informational brochures
into Spanish. These publications are available in print form, or
policyholders can download them from SCF’s new Web site,
which has a separate link for visitors who prefer information in
Spanish.
Finally, to make sure its efforts succeed, SCF sought support
and input from Hispanic political, media, agency and business leaders
during a breakfast meeting, where the company’s Spanish initiative
was explained.
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