Projects

Small Business Programs

Supporting Small Businesses During COVID-19

We are here to help! As part of our current business program and due to the Coronavirus pandemic we want to provide information and tools for business owners and employees to assist them during these difficult times. Para programa en español aquí.

COVID-19 Resources

Together with our partners we have developed and compiled useful materials to keep you informed on COVID-19 testing, best practices for beauty salons and auto shops, cleaning and disinfecting guides, procedures for re-opening your business and returning to work, and more.  Please keep in mind information is changing constantly and you can check back here to see the most updated material. If you have any suggestions on new COVID-19 resources you would like to receive please email us at seri@seriaz.org. 

Employee Exposure to COVID-19
  • What To Do If Your Employee May Have Been Exposed to COVID-19 English|Spanish|Video
  • Health Insurance for Small Business Employees: Options and Assistance at El Rio Video
  • Health Insurance Marketplace Video
  • El Rio Health Services Video
  • Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System Video
Preparing For Your COVID-19 Test
COVID-19 Vaccine
  • Options for COVID-19 Vaccine Registration in Pima County Video
  • Congratulations on Getting Vaccinated FAQs English|Spanish

  • FAQs about the COVID-19 vaccine English|Spanish

Best Practices for Beauty Salons
  • Guidance for Hair Salons and Barber Shops (CDPH) English
  • Guidance for Hair and Nail Salon Workers (OSHA) English|Spanish

  • Guidance for Barbers and Cosmetologists (AZDHS) English

Best Practices for Auto Shops

  • Steps to Protect Automotive Workers from Exposure to COVID-19 (OSHA) English|Spanish

Cleaning and Disinfecting 
Re-Opening Your Business and Returning to Work
  • Getting Vaccinated for COVID-19 English
  • Essential Workers COVID-19 Vaccine Toolkit English|Spanish
  • Guidance for Cleaning and Disinfecting Businesses For Re-Opening (CDC) English|Spanish
  • Guidance for Returning to Work (OSHA) English|Spanish
AZCOVIDTXT

  • Receive critical updates about COVID-19, as well as customized health and support tips to assist you through the stay-at-home period. By reporting the health status of your household on a regular basis, AZCOVIDTXT can better help health officials assess the spread of COVID-19 across our communities, including determining when COVID-19 is no longer a threat.  Learn more here.

Presentations
  • How and where can I get a COVID-19 test in the Tucson area? English|Spanish
  • Reliable COVID-19 Resources for Small Business Owners & Employees English|Spanish|Video

El Trabajo no te Debe Dañar: Reduction of Hazardous Exposures in Small Businesses through a Community Health Worker Intervention

The project provides bilingual pollution prevention technical assistance through on-site visits and workshops to small business sectors in our environmental justice community utilizing a community health worker intervention. It is aimed at reducing worker exposure to volatile organic compounds at small business through source reduction. Our community-based approach is accepted by the small business community and provides an enhanced opportunity to reduce the use of hazardous materials.  

Read our article published on Nature.com “Proposing a social ecological approach to address disparities in occupational exposures and health for low-wage and minority workers employed in small businesses” to learn about work-related health risks, reviews of current research on occupational and social ecological approaches, our proposal of a conceptual framework, and community-based strategies.


A summa cannister collects air samples at a salon.

Our team has received a National Institutes of Health Grant  for “El Trabajo no te Debe Dañar: Reduction of Hazardous Exposures in Small Businesses through a Community Health Worker Intervention” to continue and expand the work under the pilot.

Through a community-engaged research framework we are: 1) quantifying and identifying exposures to hazardous chemicals in two high risk small business sectors common in our target area (auto body and mechanic shops and beauty salons); 2) working collaboratively with business owners, trade groups, and workers to design an industrial hygiene enhanced CHW intervention tailored for each small business sector; and 3) conducting a cluster randomized trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the CHW intervention at reducing workplace exposures to VOCs and assess which factors lead to successful utilization of exposure control strategies in both male and female dominated businesses. The interventions 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.

PID detector

A PID detector for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in use at a salon as part of the study.

The team has already quantified actual pre-intervention VOC exposures at 18 small businesses using real-time photoionization detectors at parts per billion level, recorded activity logs of each worker’s job tasks for their entire work shift, and used a stationary monitor to measure the concentration of 61 individual VOCs in the workplace air. We have conducted site audits at the businesses to document VOC sources (e.g., VOC-generating materials and processes, quantity and type of chemicals used), existing engineering controls (e.g., ventilation, fume hoods), administrative controls (e.g., job rotation, housekeeping, worker training), and personal protective equipment (e.g., respirator, gloves).

Researchers

This is a joint program with El Rio Health and UA Zuckerman College of Public Health.     

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