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Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety



Details

  • Corporate Authors:
    National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
  • Description:
    The Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety (NEC) is one of 11 agricultural education, research and prevention centers funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). NEC has just completed one cooperative agreement period (2011-2016) and is entering a new period (2016-2021) with new research projects. NEC partners with other NIOSH centers, state and federal agencies, land grant universities, medical centers, and advocacy groups and other not-for-profit organizations to carry out research, safety trainings, and intervention programs aimed at reducing occupational injuries in agriculture, commercial fishing, and forestry (AFF) industries. The Center is located in Cooperstown, New York and serves twelve Northeastern states (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and New York). This snapshot shows recent accomplishments and upcoming work. What are our priorities? To carry out and promote health and safety research, education, and prevention activities in the high-risk areas of farming, commercial fishing, and logging from Maine to West Virginia. What do we do? 1. Establish systems for tracking patterns of work-related exposures and injury in agriculture, forestry, and fishing. 2. Develop and deliver bi-lingual prevention programs that increase access to health and safety technology and information on safety best practices. 3. Mobilize worker communities and industries to collaboratively address occupational health and safety hazards. 4. Develop, test, and disseminate engineering solutions. 5. Evaluate NEC research projects and programs. 6. Translate research findings into feasible and effective worksite practices/products. 7. Lead the National Rollover Protective Structure (ROPS) Rebate Program, which seeks to expand the ROPS rebate programs into other US states. 8. Provide interactive, worksite training opportunities for farmers and farm families, agricultural workers, high school and college agricultural classes, vocational teachers, agri-businesses, occupational safety specialists, commercial fishermen and forestry workers. What have we accomplished? 1. Rollover Protection Systems (ROPS) are 99% effective in eliminating the risk of tractor over-turn injury or fatality. Through the NEC, ROPS Rebate Programs have been established in New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin, and most recently in Minnesota. 2. Developed a surveillance system for agriculture and forestry using existing electronic injury data in Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Maryland. This system will help health and safety officials prioritize, develop and evaluate agriculture and forestry injury prevention programs. 3. From 2012-2016, NEC offered 66 sessions of the "Game of Logging" class to farmers and landowners on chainsaw handling, protective equipment use, and safer felling practices. 4. Conducted 662 educational sessions from April 2015 to March 2016, training 8,015 workers by leveraging NIOSH and state-based funding. 5. Developed community-based participatory projects with farm workers in Maine, Connecticut, and New York to identify effective ergonomic solutions for hand-harvesting work in the Northeast. NEC has delivered farm safety trainings to Anabaptist communities in New York which alerted more than 1000 school children to common farm hazards. 6. Calculated reliable estimates of worker hazard exposures in the Northeastern lobster fishery to provide the only reliable injury and fatality rates in this U.S. fishery sector. 7. Assessed Northeastern fishing vessel drum winch placement and characteristics. Developed and piloted entanglement prevention technology. 8. Prevented tractor overturn injury deaths, with New York ROPS Rebate Program participants reporting 16 overturn incidents and 197 close-calls. What's next? 1. Identify influence strategies to mobilize interest in power take-off shielding on farms. 2. Develop ergonomic equipment for lobster fishermen to prevent musculoskeletal injuries. 3. Launch coalition of Northeast agricultural safety specialists for sharing and collaborating on new training methods and best practices. 4. Test commercially available personal flotation devices (PFDs) to select and improve the best designs and increase the use of PFD's in the commercial fishing community. 5. Conduct surveys and health assessments to identify occupational health and safety issues experienced by Maine logging workers. [Description provided by NIOSH]
  • Subjects:
  • Keywords:
  • Series:
    NIOSH Numbered Publications
  • DOI:
  • Publisher:
    National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
  • Document Type:
    Text
  • Funding:
    Cooperative Agreement
  • Genre:
    Handouts/Flyers
  • Place as Subject:
  • CIO:
    National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
  • Division:
  • Topic:
    Workplace Safety & Health
  • Location:
    North America
  • Pages in Document:
    1
  • NIOSHTIC Number:
    nn:20049215
  • Citation:
    Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2017-117, 2017 Jan; :1
  • Federal Fiscal Year:
    2017
  • NORA Priority Area:
    Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
  • Performing Organization:
    Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital, Cooperstown, New York
  • Peer Reviewed:
    False
  • Start Date:
    20010930
  • Source Full Name:
    National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
  • End Date:
    20210831
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:bc84e58221420bfcf94aa13076632134b087705721b6087a45800c5e560e4dea422e0301d55a6d2e18db5e95c87af515cc75b6a114a48bb8317824d80294416c
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 122.47 KB ]
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