As you may know, agricultural work is among the most dangerous industries for workers in the United States. Farmers are at risk of both fatal and nonfatal injuries as a result of agricultural work.
Due to the troubling death rates among farmworkers, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) created a thorough safety and health program for the agricultural industry in an effort to address the significant risks associated with the field. Read on to learn more about the program.
NIOSH Health and Safety Program
The health and safety program partners with entities in the following areas:
- Industry,
- Labor,
- Trade associations,
- Professional organizations, and
- Academia.
The program works with these partners to concentrate on the following:
- Lowering the rates of illness and injury in agricultural laborers,
- Reducing the rates of traumatic injuries and musculoskeletal conditions in workers within the commercial fishing industry, and
- Decrease the rates of injuries and illnesses in forestry workers.
What the Program Does
The program works with the 11 NIOSH-funded Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health to do the following:
- Conduct research on:
- Exposure,
- Disease, and
- Injury.
- Create and execute programs that advocate for:
- Education,
- Community outreach, and
- Injury prevention.
- Create and assess control technologies.
In addition, the program utilizes partnerships with businesses to promote NIOSH recommendations that help reduce injuries, illnesses, and deaths. It also supports extramural worker safety and health research in the forestry and logging industries as a result of cooperative agreements.
The program focuses its research efforts on health disparities throughout vulnerable populations in the agricultural, forestry, and fishing industries. Vulnerable populations include:
- Immigrants,
- Children, and
- Older workers.
The NIOSH Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risk (SENSOR) Pesticide Program is a multi-state pesticide poisoning case-based observation system deployed by the health and safety program to help monitor the increasing issue of worker illnesses produced by toxic farm chemicals.
If You’ve Been Hurt at Work, We Can Help
Suffering an injury or illness at work can be a difficult experience to go through. If it has happened to you, you may be owed compensation for your losses. Don’t hesitate to reach out to our team right away to learn how we can help.
Contact Rancaño & Rancaño, APLC today by calling (916) 884-6554 or by filling out the online contact form with the details of your case to learn more about how we can help you.
