Issue #9

Safety and Health

 

 

Problem, Opportunity Statement

 

Between 1995 and 2002 at least 289 Pennsylvania farm operators, family members including children, hired farm workers, volunteer helpers, and visitors lost their lives in farm-related injury incidents. In addition, approximately 5,000 farm work injuries occur each year, with about 5% of these resulting in permanent disability and 86% resulting in one or more days of lost work time. Occupational disease, such as noise induced hearing loss, cumulative trauma disorders and agricultural respiratory illnesses, while difficult to document, are prevalent. Estimates by the National Safety Council suggest that fatal and disabling injury on farms in Pennsylvania in 2002 resulted in an estimated loss of $140,000,000.  Although pesticide injuries are not included in these statistics, pesticide safety remains a critical aspect of best management practices to ensure farm safety. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) statistics, an increasing majority of pesticide exposures are non-farm related, therefore, consumers and youth are important target audiences for pesticide safety education.

 

Farm Work Injury Prevention includes Managing Injury Hazards and Risks programs that focus on work and work exposure injury as it relates to production agriculture and encompasses all programs and activities that help farmers, farm families and employees identify, eliminate, reduce and manage hazards and risks on the farm and at agricultural work sites.  Youth Farm Safety programs are designed specifically for youth and include farm safety day camps, quiz bowl competitions and safe tractor and machinery operation. Managing Agricultural Emergency programs are designed to teach farmers, their families and emergency service personnel how to prevent injuries and deal effectively with emergency medical situations. 

 

Pesticide Safety has it’s primary focus on certification/recertification programs that provide instruction in many areas of pest management information and pesticide safety including reading the label, exposure reduction, storage and security and safe application procedures. Compliance assistance and pesticide program support helps commercial applicators understand and meet regulatory requirements that govern pesticide use, and also helps support pesticide program activities such as CHEMSWEEP and Pesticide Container Recycling. Crop profiles/pesticide use surveys help provide information to growers and regulators to make better informed pest management and pesticide safety decisions. Consumer and youth pesticide safety programs provide pest management and pesticide safety information geared to those audiences.

 

Agricultural Occupational Health programs address long-term or chronic hazards and working conditions. AgrAbility for Pennsylvanians provides information and assistance to farmers with physical or medical problems and includes a national information and technology network for farmers, farm workers and family members who are farming with on-going physical or medical difficulties. Migrant and Immigrant Health programs address the special health and safety issues faced by migrant and seasonal farm workers and employers, including language barriers, ergonomics and chemical exposures. The Agromedicine program focuses on collaborative efforts between the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and Penn State Colleges of Agricultural Sciences, Health and Human Development and Medicine.  This program supports all of the programs identified above with clinical and epidemiological assessments and evaluations.

 

 

Subject Matter Areas

 

 

 

 

 

Program Titles and/or Program Topics

 

 

 

Resources

 

 

 

 

 

o   Farm Family Emergency Response Program

o  (FFERP)

o   Emergency First Aid Care for Farm Families (EFACFF)

o   Program Instructor tutorials and local marketing materials.

o   Staff expertise.

o   PAgricultural Rescue Training Program

o   PDA grant and tuition reimbursement funding

 

 

 

 

 

Indicators