Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health

Details

• Personal Author:
  Anthony, T. Renée
• Description:
  The mission of the Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health is to prevent agricultural injury and illness and improve safety and health among agricultural communities. To accomplish this mission, the Center advances knowledge through scientific research and prevents agricultural injury and illness through education, outreach, and intervention programs. Projects and activities in 2016-22 have answered important questions to help protect farm workers in our region, including understanding at-risk driving behaviors on roadways shared by farming equipment and its surrounding community members; developing and testing technology to improve air quality in livestock buildings to protect both worker and animal health; and understanding the limitations and benefits of existing surveillance data sets to improve our understanding of on-farm hazards and their impacts. Efforts to translate research into practice occurred throughout the Center to communicate and disseminate evidence-based practices and resources through multiple communication channels to speed implementation and adoption, and to enhance educational opportunities for farmers and the communities that serve them. The cornerstone of the GPCAH Outreach Core included the Agricultural Safety and Health Core Course, offered annually at five institutions around the country and adapted for use at new institutions in both undergraduate and graduate programs targeted to bring hazard awareness and injury/illness prevention to ag workers and their trusted advocates to speed the implementation and adoption of safe practices throughout the farming community. Additionally, best-practice information has been disseminated through multiple media channels, including providing monthly SafetyWatch articles in agricultural media (print), sharing resources with rural healthcare providers, engaging in electronic media (newsletters, web, social media). A new podcast (FarmSafe) was developed to expand our reach, with the goal of allowing an audience to engage with content on their own time through widely available and adopted platforms, which allows for quick dissemination of information to address timely hazards in our region while also allowing listeners to hear stories of those affected by hazards along-side solutions that have been proven to be successful. Key lessons from this Center include the following, with where to get resources on gpcah.org: 1) Users of outreach materials want complete packages, including sufficient details to "train-the-trainer" (for those new to a subject matter), hands-on activities to communicate the message, and "evaluation" materials (questions for reflection, exams, homework). See GPCAH Outreach Kits. 2) Gas monitors for manure operations need to be low cost, robust (long sensor life), small but not too small to fit through the slats, and have concentration displayed (not just alarm) to be useful to warn farmers to respond to high hydrogen sulfide concentrations. See Manure Gas Safety. 3) Modules for providing agricultural safety and health education are now available for adoption by instructors globally, designed to enhance educational conversations about farming health and safety. See Online Modules. 4) Traumatic injuries associated with falls (22%), transportation (21%), interaction with equipment (38%) and animals (8%) results in 1.8 Iowa Farmer visits to the emergency room per day, which helps advocates share safety messages within Iowa and throughout the region. See Injury Facts & Trends. 5) Midwest Farmers report chemical hazards, equipment hazards, and health outcomes as their top safety and health needs (Arora et al. 2019). Their rural healthcare providers identified that they treat more commonly for musculoskeletal (e.g., shoulder/back pain), acute injuries and lacerations, and sprains. 6) The new SaferTrek device and new processing algorithms have been validated to detect (98.5% with automation) and estimate distance (0.5 m resolution) of approaching vehicles to allow processing of behavioral factors regarding vehicle - farm equipment interaction on roadways. Details are in the Instrumented Farm Vehicle Roadway Study research project report. 7) Filtration and UVC disinfection using large units can reduce airborne contaminants in livestock units, but increased airflow is likely needed in finishing rooms compared to the 5 air changes per hour rate that was successful in farrowing. Smaller, modular air treatment units are likely needed to adopt this technology in livestock buildings. Details are in the Air Quality Improvements research project report. 8) Surveillance records demonstrate little overlap between trauma registry and workers compensation claims records, again illustrating the need to find cases and, thus, risk factors, in multiple sources. Details are in the Surveillance of Injuries and Risk Factors research project report. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Air Pollutants, Occupational Automobiles Education Farmers Livestock Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Agricultural Centers Agricultural Safety Air Contaminants Farm Workers Information Dissemination Injury Prevention Livestock Industry Motor Vehicles Surveillance
• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Final Cooperative Agreement Report
• Place as Subject:
  Iowa ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-137
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20070705
• 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, U54-OH-007548, 2023 Jan; :1-137
• Email:
  renee-anthony@uiowa.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2023
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Performing Organization:
  University of Iowa, Iowa City
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20010930
• End Date:
  20270929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8a2d36454187d3737b08a6f2bce127a3d008855a343e8388f065b026ff0b49fc14faea13b0c567263b91845928ac7a77edcc0701da99a20005aa624389bdd2b2
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/219278/cdc_219278_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.34 MB ]