Worker Protection Standard

Abstract: substantially improve our knowledge of pensions. Yet many frustrations remain. Most of the information presented here is current only to 1980. Fundamental information, such as the size of contributions to private pensions or the share of pensions in the total compensation paid to workers, stops in 1975. Since coverage data presented here end in 1978, no information is provided on the effect of the dramatic increase in the number of workers eligible for individual retirement accounts in 1982. The publication of this book represents a promise and a problem. Like its 1921 predecessor, it is a nongovernmental attempt to fill a void in our statistical knowledge about the economy. The promise is that the Department of Labor or some other organization will use the data that private pension plans must submit yeafly to the DOL under ERISA regulations to update annually the statistics presented here. The problem is that the DOL appears to be moving in the opposite direction. For example, the exciting new data used by Clark and by Fields and Mitchell (Retirement Pensions and Social Security, 1984) has been withdrawn from public use. This book will become an important part of the working library of those interested in pension issues. One can only hope that companion volumes will follow. If government officials remain unconverted perhaps an appeal to theological sources will once more be required.

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to report on the development and initial use of a pesticide knowledge test (PKT) specifically designed to evaluate agricultural workers’ knowledge of the content mandated by the federal Worker Protection Standard (WPS). The PKT is a 20-item, true-false test, used in a sample of 414 adult and adolescent migrant farmworkers in Oregon. The overall mean score, i.e., number correct, was 15.67 (78.4%), with both adults and adolescents demonstrating the most difficulty with questions related to the overall health effects of pesticides. The internal consistency was 0.73, when estimated using a method to correct for small sample sizes. Only six items had less than 70% correct answers. Content validity was achieved by basing the items directly on the Worker Protection Standard; face validity was obtained by having the final version of the test reviewed by a bilingual (English-Spanish) educator familiar with the requirements of the WPS. Overall, adult participants scored better than adolescents, and those with previous pesticide training scored better than those without. There were no differences in scores based on gender or whether the test was taken in English or Spanish; however, participants who spoke indigenous languages scored significantly lower than those who did not. These results indicate that the PKT is a valid, reliable measure of worker knowledge of the content of the WPS, although it does not measure the extent to which that knowledge is actually used in the work setting.