SOMERVILLE, Mass. – Tufts University plans to use students as “change agents” to help implement a massive intervention effort aimed at addressing occupational health risks for immigrant workers.

Researchers at the university’s School of Engineering received a four-year, $899,644 grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health to work with numerous local immigrant groups like the Community Action Agency of Somerville, the Haitian Coalition, the Immigrant Service Providers Group and the Brazilian Women’s Group to educate immigrants about the hazards of their jobs, Bio-Medicine.org reports.

An annual assessment of the program will “represent a joint effort by Tufts faculty skilled in the areas of sociology, risk assessment and epidemiology acting in concert with students and the community partners,” according to a Tufts University press release posted to the site.

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“Armed with in-depth knowledge of risk and health issues, such as respiratory and dermal exposure to potentially harmful solvents and cleaning agents, the study team will train youth educators who will teach immigrant workers about occupational hazards and safe practices.

“These trainers will be bi-lingual young people who historically serve as ‘change agents’ within their families and communities.”

Community Action Agency of Somerville program coordinator Ismael Vazquez said the agency has used students to get out their message in the past and it worked quite well.

“We have successfully used this model of training previously for topics ranging from tobacco use to other environmental issues,” he said in the release.

“Youth educators have served as powerful advocates for change in their communities which serves to improve the health and safety of all,” Haitian Coalition executive director Franklin Dalembert said.

Rose Goldman, chief of occupational and environmental medicine at the Cambridge Health Alliance, a partner in the program, said immigrants are more at risk of on-the-job health hazards than other workers.

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“Immigrant workers in the Somerville and greater Boston area are frequently working in small groups, particularly in service industries, such as housecleaners, floor refinishers, housepainters or in small businesses such as nail salons, beauty salons and auto body shops,” Goldman said.

“They often receive inadequate training about the hazards and how to do the job safely, and as a result frequently develop illnesses and injuries that are often unseen and unmet.”

Somerville is also a hot spot for immigrants fleeing their homelands, and because many lack a proper education, they’re stuck in crappy jobs, said David Gute, a Tufts engineering professor and epidemiologist.

“Immigrants have accounted for 82 percent of the growth of the labor force in Massachusetts since the mid 1980s. Somerville, which has seen the number of foreign-born residents grow by 34 percent in 10 years, is an important gateway for newcomers,” he said.

“While many foreign-born workers have impressive skill sets, most arrive in this country because of war, natural disaster, or economic crisis and are often poor and lacking in formal education. As a result, they live in the least desirable housing, have limited access to health care, work at the lowest paid jobs under the worst conditions, and are exposed to a disproportionate share of environmental hazards in their schools and homes,” Gute said.