AGRICULTURE SAFETY AND HEALTH

Agriculture ranks among the most hazardous industries. Farmers are at high risk for fatal and nonfatal injuries, work-related lung diseases, noise-induced hearing loss, skin diseases, and certain cancers associated with chemical use and prolonged sun exposure. Farming is one of the few industries in which the families (who often share the work and live on the premises) are also at risk for injuries, illness, and death.

• More than 2.25 million full-time workers are employed in agriculture. If unpaid farm workers and family members 14 and older are included, nearly 4.5 million work in agriculture.
• Approximately one million children and adolescents under 15 years of age reside in farm operator households, while another 800,000 children and adolescents live in households headed by hired farm workers.
• Each year, about 100 children are killed and 100,000 children and adolescents are injured in agriculture-related activities.
• Each year, 132 American farm workers are crushed to death by tractor rollovers.
• Every day, about 500 agricultural workers suffer disabling injuries, and about 5% of these result in permanent impairment.

In FY 1990, Congress directed NIOSH to develop an extensive agricultural safety and health program to address the high risks of injuries and illnesses experienced by workers and families in agriculture. NIOSH funds research and prevention programs at university centers in 20 states. These programs conduct research on pesticide exposure, pulmonary disease, musculoskeletal disorders, hearing loss, stress, and injuries associated with different farm operations. NIOSH has published a directory of its current agriculture research projects, including those programs funded at universities (DHHS [NIOSH] Publication No. 97-124).

NIOSH Makes a Difference in Farm Health

From the initial work NIOSH conducted on cotton dust to recent work on cancers and pesticides, NIOSH is reducing the health risks among workers in agriculture. Examples include:

• Green Tobacco Sickness (GTS)

  GTS is caused by absorption of nicotine from the surface of wet tobacco through the skin. Workers whose clothing becomes saturated from tobacco wet with rain or morning dew may develop this illness. Symptoms of GTS include vomiting, dizziness, and fluctuations in blood pressure or heart rate.

  During a two month period in Kentucky, about 600 persons sought emergency room care for GTS. The outbreak was identified by the NIOSH supported OHNAC program. Researchers identified prevention methods, distributed these recommendations to tobacco farmers, and educated health professionals in how to diagnose the illness.

• Preventing Cancer

  Farmers have higher rates of brain, lip, and skin cancer compared with the U.S. population. NIOSH funds cancer control demonstration projects for farm populations in 12 states. To reduce deaths from cancer, rural health hospitals, Future Farmers of America, 4-H, and other organizations are implementing NIOSH prevention strategies. Farmers learn about risk factors, prevention controls, receive screening, treatment, and follow-up.

NIOSH Makes a Difference in Farm Safety

NIOSH and its agriculture partners are collaborating to identify how and why injuries occur and ways to prevent them. Examples include:

• Preventing Scalpings and Entanglements

  NIOSH supported the Occupational Health Nurses in Agricultural Communities (OHNAC) program in New York. Through its surveillance efforts, OHNAC identified deaths, severe injuries and amputations from entanglements with power take-offs (PTOs) among adults and children. The injured included a 14-year-old girl who lost her entire scalp while helping her father with hay bailing and a 9-year-old boy who lost both legs harvesting grain.

  To address this problem on a national level, NIOSH conducted a study which identified 346 deaths, 860 amputations, and nearly 10,000 injuries due to entanglements with farm machinery nationwide during the 1980's. More than 100 of the deaths involved PTOs.

  NIOSH's 1994 Alert: Preventing Scalping and Other Severe Injuries from Farm Machinery (DHHS [NIOSH] Publication No. 94-105) to prevent these tragedies was widely disseminated. After publication of the Alert, a major manufacturer of agriculture machinery doubled sales of retrofit safety shielding for unprotected PTOs. Another manufacturer redesigned its equipment to reduce the risk of entanglement injuries. In 1995, NIOSH published Safe Grain and Silage Handling (DHHS [NIOSH] Publication No. 95-109). This publication describes methods to prevent PTO entanglements and other serious farm injuries, including tractor rollovers, suffocation in grain bins, and electrocutions.

• NIOSH Makes a Difference in Safety and Health for Farm Kids

  In FY 1997, NIOSH will spend $5 million to implement a National Action Plan for child and adolescent agricultural safety and health. This plan was developed by the National Committee for Childhood Agricultural Injury Prevention (NCCAIP) in cooperation with public and private partners. The implementation plan includes fostering needed research; creating a framework for using empirical data; and encouraging public and private sectors to use effective prevention efforts. NIOSH will also establish a National Center to facilitate childhood agricultural injury prevention efforts.

NIOSH Helps Solve Safety and Health Problems in Agriculture

Between October 1993 and March 1996, NIOSH researchers conducted 34 health hazard evaluations on farms and in agriculture industries and responded to 468 agriculture-related calls on its 800 number. From 1982 to 1996, NIOSH conducted or funded 188 agriculture-related investigations through its Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) program.

Additional Information

Copies of the publications described in this document are available free-of-charge from the NIOSH Publications Office while supplies last (telephone 1-800-356-4674; fax 513-533-8573;

e-mail pubstaft@cdc.gov). For a list of other available NIOSH publications on agriculture, request fax document # 705000 from the toll-free CDC Fax Information Service (1-888-232- 3299). NIOSH has also funded the development of the National Ag Safety Disc (NASD), a CD- ROM containing over 2,000 agriculture health and safety publications from throughout the United States. For further information about NASD, request fax document # 705100.

For a complete listing of documents available on the CDC Fax Information Service call 1-888-CDC-FAXX (1-888-232-3299) and request document #000006. This information is also available on the Internet at CDC's web site.

July, 1997