Preventing Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders for Youth Working on Farms

Details

• Personal Author:
  Waters, Thomas R.
• Description:
  Farming is physically demanding. The strength and endurance training that children get while working on farms can contribute to their overall health and fitness. However, excessive physical demands may lead to acute or chronic injuries and illnesses to the musculoskeletal system. The risk is especially great for the lower back, shoulders, and upper extremities. The demands of the job must match the child's abilities. Parents, supervisors, and children need to understand the hazards and know how to minimize risks. Children themselves will benefit from information that teaches them to recognize "normal" soreness versus soreness that indicates a need to rest or recover. More specific examples of successful ergonomic interventions are listed in "Simple Solutions: Ergonomics for Farm Workers" (NIOSH, 2001). Since perceptions drive action, the first target for intervention is the perceptions of farm workers and supervisors. They need information on the problems in order to understand and make conscientious decisions on assigning farm tasks to children. The most effective ergonomic interventions involve a collective effort that includes children, parents, supervisors, and safety experts. Children, parents, and supervisors will have ideas about task design and safety that fit their surroundings and lifestyle. They are also more likely to use the information if they are active participants in their own health and welfare, rather than recipients of programs designed by "outsiders." Regardless of the risk of MSDs, children and adolescents will work in agriculture and on farms with their families to gain extra income. However, they should be able to do so without exposing themselves to significant risk. Every effort should be made to assign children to jobs appropriately, according to their capabilities and to identify and eliminate jobs with high risk of injury. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Age Factors Aging Agriculture Demography Farmers Musculoskeletal Diseases Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety

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• Keywords:
  Age-factors Age-groups Agricultural-industry Agricultural-machinery Agricultural-workers Back-injuries Demographic-characteristics Injuries Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Occupational-hazards Risk-analysis Risk-factors

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• ISBN:
  9780415304740
• Publisher:
  CRC Press
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Book
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20032982
• Citation:
  Ergonomics for children: designing products and places for toddlers to teens. Lueder R, Berg Rice VJ, eds. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2007 Jul; :623-650
• Editor(s):
  Lueder R; Berg Rice VJ
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2007
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Ergonomics for children: designing products and places for toddlers to teens
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e4c7cc1d8c62e0beaa799ddf6cb9930dde9d938259ef22c15c4797946d2edd7e751d107957875ede7cfb8df52284e1ba88d7c483a2baec67351541450f7bf83c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/188728/cdc_188728_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.72 MB ]