NCERA197: Agricultural Safety and Health Research and Extension
Statement of Issues and Justification
The two most hazardous industries in the U.S. are agriculture and mining with 22 and 24 deaths per 100,000 workers respectively (NSC 2001). The elevated agricultural death rate is nearly 6 times higher than the average of 4 deaths per 100,000 workers for all industries combined. These tragic numbers show only the impact of agricultural deaths that remove valuable human resources from a dwindling workforce. The economic impact on the agricultural industry results from the 130,000 disabling injuries and the average cost of $35,000.00 per disabling injury (NSC 2001). The bottom line impact of the disabling injuries costs agriculture a total of $4.5 billion dollars yearly.Agriculture's ranking as one of the two most hazardous industries has resulted in significant media attention and pressure by safety advocates, farm worker organizations, farm equipment manufacturers, and those agencies considered responsible for the safety and health of agricultural workers and farm families to improve the safety record for agriculture. This pressure offers an opportunity for change.
Initiated in 2000 and extended in 2004, the NCR197 committee developed a strategy to utilize the Land Grant System's research and extension capacity in cooperation with the experience of those who live and work in agriculture to reduce work-related injuries, illness, and death. This group established a national land grant research and extension agenda for agricultural safety and health (NCR197 2003). This historical document marks the first agricultural safety and health agenda for action by the land grand system since 1943 when the first cooperative extension specialist for farm safety was appointed in Wisconsin.
This national agenda for action provides a prioritized list of research and extension areas with 115 individual topics. The selection of these 12 areas: 1) sensors and guarding systems, 2) operating agricultural equipment on public roads, 3) agricultural confined space, 4) emerging technologies, 5) human factors engineering and design, 6) management of agricultural emergencies, 7) livestock handling and housing systems, 8) public policy issues, 9) capital and management intensive vs. family labor intensive operations, 10) fire detection and suppression, 11) agricultural safety education and training, and 12) special populations and enterprises, was accomplished though a systematic process created and implemented by the NCR 197 committee. The national agenda for action has been widely distributed and adopted. This success also includes the Canadian government using this document as the foundation for their agricultural safety strategic plan.
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