Occupational safety and health programs in the Maquiladora industry

Luis VELÁZQUEZ



Nora MUNGUÍA



Javier ESQUER



Andrea ZAVALA



Sara OJEDA



Markus WILL



Bernd DELAKOWITZ




Abstract

Although traditionally the maquiladora industry had succeeded in strengthening the Mexican economic growth, this has been also criticized because their collateral effects not only on environment but also on working conditions of the maquiladora workers. This study has the purpose of deepening the actual understanding of the diverging occupational and safety practices undertaken in the Mexican maquiladora industry by evaluating the Safety and Health Programs in nine Maquiladoras in the cities of Mexicali, Hermosillo, and Nogales. Using the OSHA’s Program Evaluation Profile (PEP) form OSHA-195, this study found evidence that the production patterns in this industry are changing toward a more sustainable system. In this context, the maintaining of safety and health programs has been important to improve working conditions on maquiladoras facilities.

Keywords:

Sustainable Production, occupational health, Safety and Occupational Health Programs, Maquiladoras

Abell, H. (1999). Endangering women´s health for profit: health and safety for Mexico ´s maquiladoras. Development in Practice 9(5): 595–600.

AICE (1996). Guidelines For Integrating Process Safety Management, Environment, Safety, Health, and Quality. ISBN 0-8169-0683-1. New York: American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Bergin, P.; Feenstra, C.; Gordon, H. (2011). Volatility due to offshoring: theory and evidence. Journal of International Economics 85(2): 163-173.

Bond, Meg A.; Kalaja, A.; Markkanen, P.; Cazeca, D.; Sivan, D.; Tsurikova, L.; Punnett, L. (2007). Expanding Our Understanding of the Psychosocial Work Environment: A Compendium of Measures of Discrimination, Harassment and Work-Family Issues. DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2008–104.

Carrillo, J.; García, H. (2002). Evolución de las maquiladoras y el rol del Gobierno y del mercado en la seguridad en el trabajo. Papeles de población 33. Available at: http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/src/inicio/ArtPdfRed.jsp?iCve=11203305. Accessed 6 January 2013.

Carrillo, J.; Za, R. (2009). The Evolution of Maquiladora Best Practices: 1965 – 2008. Journal of Business Ethics 88(2): 335-348.

CEPAL (1999). La industria maquiladora y el desarrollo en América Latina y el Caribe (28/04/1999). Available at: http://www.eclac.org/cgi-bin/getProd.asp?xml=/prensa/noticias/comunicados/6/246/P246.xml&xsl=/prensa/ tpl/p6f.xsl&base=/prensa/tpl/top-bottom.xsl. Accessed 20 January 2013.

Cerávolo, R.; Müller, F.; Castro, M. (2009). The impact of six sigma in the performance of a pollution prevention program. Journal of cleaner production 17(15): 1303-1310.

Chu, C.; Breucker, G.; Harris, N.; Stitzel, A.; Gan, X.; Gu, X.; Dwyer, S. (2000). Health-promoting workplaces – international settings development. Health Promotion International 15(2). ISSN 0957-4824.

Cirila, Q. (2002). The North American Free Trade Agreement and Women. International Feminist Journal of Politics 4(2): 240-259.

Contreras, O.; Carrillo, J.; Garcia, H.; Olea, M. (2006). Desempeño laboral de las maquiladoras. Una evaluación de la seguridad en el trabajo. Frontera Norte 18(35). Available at: http://aplicaciones.colef.mx:8080/fronteranorte/articulos/FN35/3-f35_Desempeno_laboral_de_las_ maquiladoras.pdf. Accessed 6 January 2013.

Cooper, M.D. (2000). Towards a model of safety culture. Safety Science 36: 111-136.

Del Rio Chamber of Commerce (2002). Industrial information: the best of the border.

Gruben, W. (2001). Was NAFTA behind Mexico's high Maquiladora growth? Economic & Financial Review 3: 11-22.

Hossain, K.; Khan, F.; Hawboldt, K. (2008). Sustainable development of process facilities: State-of-the-art review of pollution prevention frameworks. Journal of Cleaner Production 150(1): 4-20.

ILO (2011). OSH management system: a tool for continual improvement. International Labour Organization. ISBN 978-92-2-124739-5. Geneva.

Kouros, G. (1998). Occupational Health and Safety in the Maquiladoras. Borderlines 47 6(6).

Moyers and CIR (1991). Enforcement Actions Taken against Polluters on U.S.-Mexico Border. EPA Environmental News: 41-42.

Pizzorusso, A. (1998). The Maquiladoras and the Environment. Environmental Management on North America´s Borders. In Kiy, R.; Wirth, J. (eds.). Environmental Management on North America's Borders: 208-220. Texas: A&M University Press.

Punnet, L. (2001). Economic Costs of Ergonomic Problem: An Obstacle to Sustainable Development. In Forrant, R. et al. (eds.). Approaches to Sustainable Development: The public University in the regional Economy: 169. University of Massachusetts Lowell: Lowell, MA.

Quinn, M.; Kriebel, D.; Geiser, K.; Moure-Eraso, R. (1998). Sustainable Production: A Proposed Strategy for the Work Environment. American Journal of Industrial Medicine 34: 297-304.

Schatan, C.; Castilleja, L. (2004). La industria maquiladora electrónica en la frontera norte de México y el medio ambiente. CEPAL. Available at: http://www.eclac.cl/cgi-bin/getProd.asp?xml=/publicaciones/xml/9/14649/ P14649.xml&xsl=/mexico/tpl/p9f.xsl&base=/mexico/tpl/top-bottom.xsl. Accessed 6 January 2013.

Schoepfle, G. (1991). Implications for U.S. employment of the recent growth in Mexican maquiladoras. Frontera Norte 3 (5), Available at: http://aplicaciones.colef.mx:8080/fronteranorte/articulos/FN5/2-f5_Implications_ US_employment_groth_mexico_maquiladoras.pdf . Accessed 10 January 2013.

US Labor Department. (2004). Table B-4. Average hourly earnings of production or non-supervisory workers. News Bureau Statistics, Economics.

Velazquez, L.; Munguia, N.; Navarrete, M.; Zavala, A. (2006). An overview of sustainability practices at the maquiladora industry in Mexico. Management of Environmental Quality 17(4): 478-489.
Download


Published
2020-11-30

Cited by

VELÁZQUEZ, L., MUNGUÍA, N., ESQUER, J., ZAVALA, A., OJEDA, S., WILL, M., & DELAKOWITZ, B. (2020). Occupational safety and health programs in the Maquiladora industry. Economic and Environmental Studies, 14(2 (30), 163–175. Retrieved from https://czasopisma.uni.opole.pl/index.php/ees/article/view/2874

Authors

Luis VELÁZQUEZ 

Authors

Nora MUNGUÍA 

Authors

Javier ESQUER 

Authors

Andrea ZAVALA 

Authors

Sara OJEDA 

Authors

Markus WILL 

Authors

Bernd DELAKOWITZ 

Statistics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.



Most read articles by the same author(s)