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New Worker Protection Lab

Prof. Kaitlyn Alvarez Noli

The Worker Protection Lab examines occupational health in agriculture by studying the structural and regulatory conditions that shape pesticide safety and influence the health of immigrant farmworkers.

About

Members of the Worker Protection Lab study how labor and environmental policies are implemented in agricultural settings and how these processes affect the health and safety of farmworkers. We work at the intersection of social science, public health, and environmental policy to investigate whether pesticide safety regulations meaningfully protect immigrant and migrant workers who are among the most marginalized in the agricultural system. Our current projects focus on enforcement of the EPA’s Worker Protection Standard (WPS), institutional constraints on regulatory agencies, and the role of immigration status in shaping on-the-ground realities of farmworker protections. We are also examining how advocacy groups collaborate with state and industry actors in regulatory spaces and what this means for achieving reform.

We use a mix of quantitative policy analysis, evidence synthesis, and qualitative field research to address pressing questions: Are federal standards like the EPA’s Worker Protection Standard (WPS) being meaningfully enforced, and what do patterns in violations and agency responses reveal about structural gaps? How do institutional constraints and factors such as immigration status or enforcement agency capacity shape the lived realities of farmworker protections? How do advocacy groups engage with industry and state actors in collaborative policy settings, and what are the implications for achieving meaningful reform? By addressing these questions, our lab seeks to inform more just and accountable regulatory frameworks for farmworker health and safety.

Team

Led by SSEHRI Core Faculty, Assistant Prof. Kaitlyn Alvarez Noli, Public Policy and Health Sciences, Northeastern University

  • Stephane Labossiere – Graduate Student, Public Policy, PhD, Northeastern University
  • Carter Gramiak – Graduate Student, MA in Political Science, Northeastern University
  • Huidi Wang – Graduate Student, MS in Computer Science, Northeastern University
  • Jona Fejzaj – Research Assistant, BS in Computer Science and Mathematics, Northeastern University
  • Keshav Goel – Undergraduate Research Assistant, BS in Data Science and Mathematics, Northeastern University
  • Yueran Jia – Undergraduate Research Assistant, BS in Data Science and Health Sciences, Northeastern University
  • Xiaoyu Ju – Undergraduate Research Assistant, BS in Computer Science and Finance, Northeastern University
  • Tarun Kundra – Undergraduate Research Assistant, BS in Economics and Finance, Northeastern University
  • Rachael Leibowitz – Undergraduate Research Assistant, BA in Environmental Studies and Political Science, Northeastern University
  • Julia Sheehan – Undergraduate Research Assistant, BS in Environmental & Sustainability Sciences and Economics, Northeastern University
  • Sarah Tyner – Undergraduate Research Assistant, BA in Human Services and Communication Studies, Northeastern University

Collaborators

We collaborate with Dr. Becca Berkey (Northeastern University) and Dr. Joseph G. Grzywacz (San José State University). Their contributions to our WPS enforcement work span community-engaged research, environmental justice, immigrant and occupational health, and interdisciplinary policy analysis. They help shape the conceptual and methodological direction of these projects, and they support research development for emerging scholars on our team.

Current Projects

Mapping WPS Enforcement and Regulatory Variation

This project examines how the EPA’s Worker Protection Standard (WPS) is enforced across states and over time. Drawing on enforcement data from the EPA’s ECHO database alongside agricultural and labor datasets, our team is identifying patterns in reported violations and agency responses. By linking these patterns to structural features of state labor forces and agricultural production, we aim to understand the sources of uneven regulatory implementation. Early findings reveal wide variation in enforcement intensity, suggesting critical gaps in farmworker protections.

Learn more about EPA’s ECHO database

Evaluating Federal Farmworker Health Protections

Through a systematic scoping review, we are mapping the evidence on how well federal regulations like the WPS and Field Sanitation Standard are safeguarding farmworker health. Currently at the abstract screening stage, our team is identifying studies published since 1990 that examine regulatory design, health outcomes, and conditions shaping effectiveness. The resulting evidence map will guide future research and help policymakers and advocates understand how to strengthen occupational health safeguards for immigrant workers.

Learn more about the Worker Protection Standard

Learn more about OSHA’s Field Sanitation Standard

Farmworker Resource Program Policy Formation and Oversight

This project examines how farmworker protections are negotiated and institutionalized through local policymaking. We study the creation and development of Ventura County’s Farmworker Resource Program by tracing the work of a multi-sector coalition that successfully secured public funding for the initiative. Drawing on ethnographic, archival, and meeting transcript analysis, we follow how farmworker advocates, public officials, and agricultural stakeholders defined shared goals, designed the program’s structure, and now participate in its oversight. We are documenting how power circulates within these deliberative spaces and how consensus-building practices shape the scope and direction of farmworker support.

Learn More about Ventura County’s Farmworker Resource Program

Racial Ignorance and the Politics of Evidence in Pesticide Regulation

This project explores how racial ideology and discursive strategy shape the governance of pesticide risks. In a recent article co-authored with Maria Rendón, we analyzed how colorblind language and epistemic maneuvering sustain environmental racism in debates over farmworker protections. Building on this work, we are developing a forthcoming paper on 1,3-Dichloropropene regulation, examining how regulatory practices and scientific framing downplay harm while preserving agricultural interests. This work investigates how power operates through knowledge production.Check out our most recent publication