UC Agricultural Health & Safety Center at Davis
On-Line News
Issue Number 1995-01
February 1995
Published by the UC Agricultural Health & Safety Center at
Davis, University of California, Davis, Marc Schenker, M.D., M.P.H.,
Director, Marti Childs, Editor
1995-01-01 TABLE OF CONTENTS
- 1995-01-01 Table of Contents
- 1995-01-02 Welcome and Introduction
- 1995-01-03 Ergonomics Studies
- 1995-01-04 First on the Scene Training
- 1995-01-05 Loteria Game Goes Public
- 1995-01-06 AgSafe Conference
- 1995-01-07 Center's Grieshop Received Award
- 1995-01-08 Robert Krieger Visits Center
- 1995-01-09 Davis Headquarters for NIOSH Internet
News
- 1995-01-10 Ag News Clips on File
- 1995-01-11 Ag Center Publications on File
1995-01-02 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the UC Agricultural Health & Safety Center at Davis
On-Line News.
On-Line News is a synopsis of news items covered by the Center's
quarterly newsletter along with additional information including
news clippings and Center publications related to agricultural health
and safety issues. The Center has two electronic list servers that
allow automatic forwarding of e-mail to a list of subscribers. One
server is a forum for announcements and discussion of agricultural
health and safety issues and the other is a vehicle for the automatic
distribution of mini-newsletters.
The e-mail addresses for the forum is: aghealth@oem.ucdavis.edu
(message forwarding address) and aghealth-request@oem.ucdavis.edu
(subscriber request address). The addresses for the mini newsletter
are: aghealthnews@oem.ucdavis.edu (message forwarding address) and
aghealthnews-request@oem.ucdavis.edu (subscriber request address).
To subscribe to a list, send an e-mail message to the request address
with no subject and a one line message giving the option subscribe
and your name. For example, to subscribe to the forum for announcements
and general agricultural health and safety issues, you would send
the following:
To: aghealth-request@oem.ucdavis.edu
Subject:
Message:
subscribe (your name here)
By return e-mail you will receive confirmation of your request
and more information about using the listserver request functions.
To subscribe to the On-line News, your request would look like:
To: aghealthnews-request@oem.ucdavis.edu
Subject:
Message:
subscribe (your name here)
1995-01-03 ERGONOMICS STUDIES
Ergonomics, the applied science that seeks to promote a healthy
and productive workforce by improving the physical design of the
work environment to minimize stress on the human body, is the focus
of a team of Center researchers in an array of academic disciplines
and institutions. The team was responsible for securing a three-year
$621,000 grant from the National Institute of Occupational Safety
and Health (NIOSH) for the California Agricultural Ergonomics Intervention
Project, which focuses on the state's nursery industry. Commercial
nurseries and related businesses employ approximately 31,000 workers,
many of whom perform tasks similar to those found in both manufacturing
and traditional field agriculture. Commercial nurseries constitute
one of the fastest growing segments of California's multi-billion
dollar agricultural industry. California's nursery crops (plants
and flowers) rank fifth in state farm income.
The NIOSH grant reflects a new national concern about ergonomic
hazards in the agricultural workplace. Musculoskeletal injuries
and illnesses are increasing at an alarming rate. These disorders
represent a rapidly growing proportion of all workers' compensation
injury costs. They are expensive to treat, recur easily and, if
not treated properly, can result in permanent disability.
"Our goal is not to replace workers through mechanization, but
to modify their tasks and tools in order to prevent injury," said
study director John A. Miles, a professor of biological and agricultural
engineering at UC Davis. "We also are confident that nursery owners
and managers will realize savings through increased efficiencies
and productivity."
A colleague of Miles in the project is Ira Janowitz, an ergonomics
engineer at the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health's
new 4,000-square-foot Ergonomics Laboratory at the Richmond Field
Station near the UC Berkeley campus. Janowitz will administer a
battery of tests and analyze the results to determine biomechanical,
metabolic and postural stress of these hazards. Miles will use Janowitz's
data to design new tools for workers to use.
The new lab's director, David Remple, an assistant professor of
medicine at UC San Francisco, says, "Our students and staff come
from many different fields on three different campuses-Berkeley,
San Francisco and Davis. We have doctoral students in engineering
and public health, post-docs in statistics and bioengineering, staff
research associates, a programmer, and a research engineer. The
more we can share information, the more effective we can be, and
the better the outcome of our research."
Farm Advisor John Kabashima and James M. Meyers are working with
growers and workers in implementing the design changes the researchers
develop for tools and tasks. To demonstrate the effectiveness of
the new approaches, Julia Faucett, director of Occupational Health
and Nursing Program at UC San Francisco, is assessing the workers'
musculoskeletal injuries and the level of pain and discomfort they
experience before they adopt the new tools and tasks in the workplace.
As a final step, the team will communicate its findings to other
nursery and agricultural industry groups.
In addition to the extensive research going on in the area of ergonomics,
NIOSH is supporting a new graduate training program through the
Northern California Educational Resources Center at UC Berkeley's
School of Public Health. The first of its kind on the West Coast,
the program offers M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in environmental health
sciences with a focus on ergonomics. Both the federal government
and California's Occupational Safety and Health Administration are
working on ergonomic standards, and companies are seeking advice
about how to comply. "The standards will be difficult to implement,
because the research hasn't been done yet to provide hard numbers,"
said Remple. "Our work will eventually lead to the numbers-that's
our goal."
1995-01-04 FIRST ON THE SCENE SAFETY TRAINING
To mitigate the effects of agricultural injuries in Yolo County,
investigators from the UC Davis Center, representatives from the
state of California Farm Bureau Federation (CFBF), along with a
host of local emergency responders and community health and safety
agencies sponsored First on The Scene Safety Training last November
in Woodland, Calif., at the local Fire Department training facility.
The Yolo County town is eight miles north of the UC Davis Campus.
This was the first time in California such a program was offered
to rural residents involved in agriculture. Agricultural employees
frequently work in remote areas where there are no homes or telephones.
Under these conditions it is important that employers and workers
know what to do in case of injury. Individuals with no specific
CPR and first aid training can save lives by knowing who to call
and what to say to emergency medical staff. Another First on the
Scene Safety Training session will be held March 21-22, 1995. For
more information, call the Yolo County Farm Bureau at (916) 662-6316.
1995-01-05 LOTERIA GAME GOES PUBLIC
Auto accident deaths and injuries among Hispanic drivers are disproportionately
high in the San Joaquin Valley. Many victims are migrant farmworkers,
whose personal suffering is often compounded by the inability to
pay for expensive emergency medical treatment and provide for their
families in case of disability or untimely death.
In the hope of preventing some of these tragedies, UC Davis Center
affiliates and the California Highway Patrol (CHP) Central Division
in Fresno have teamed up with Fresno County Migrant Education program,
Judge Jane York of Sanger, law enforcement officials, farmers groups
and farm workers to develop La Loteria&cute; a del Manejo Seguro,
a driver safety training game that teaches Hispanic drivers about
California driving laws, road signs and hazards.
The game was introduced to the public at a press conference held
by the CHP last November as part of a motor vehicle safety campaign
targeted toward the Spanish-speaking residents of Fresno and nearby
areas. The campaign will be aimed at reducing the extremely high
incidence of motor vehicle fatalities and injuries in the Central
Valley. The game consists of 50 to 60 picture cards depicting color
images of various motor vehicle safety symbols. Sixteen of these
symbols are contained on "bingo-like" cards. Used in this manner
the calling cards and the images become flash cards for learning
traffic signs and regulations.
1995-01-06 AGSAFE CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN NORTHERN
CALIF.
Farm owners, managers and safety professionals are invited to participate
in an agricultural safety conference to be held at the Sheraton
Hotel in Rancho Cordova on March 27-28, 1995. The conference, co-sponsored
by AgSafe Coalition members and funded by the Center's NIOSH, co-operative
agreement No. U07/CCU906162, will encompass practical safety ideas
and proven solutions for setting up and operating an injury and
illness prevention program.
The first session, which begins at 3 p.m. on Monday, March 27,
will be moderated by Pene Wilson, director of health and safety
for the California Farm Bureau Federation. A panel consisting of
a farm owner, safety consultant and Cal/OSHA consultation official
will present practical ideas on how to establish and implement an
injury and illness prevention program. The Cal/OSHA official will
also provide insight about what the agency looks for when conducting
an inspection.
Tuesday's sessions will include How to Conduct an Ergonomic Job
Analysis in Agriculture, and state and federal Environmental Protection
Agency officials will give an update of new worker protection standards.
A series of workshop sessions will be conducted, including a full-day
track on ergonomics, and afternoon sessions on Innovative Safety
Practices, Safety Incentive Programs that Work and Safety Training
Materials: How and Where to Get Them. The registration fee for the
full two-day conference is $90 ($70 with $20 discount coupon), which
includes the conference, reception on March 27, continental breakfast
and lunch on March 28.
The cost to attend one day (March 28) is $70 ($60 with $10 discount
coupon). Early registration is encouraged because of space limitations.
For more information and to receive a discount coupon, call the
Center at (916) 752-4050.
1995-01-07 CENTER'S GRIESHOP RECEIVED AWARD
UC Cooperative Extension specialist, lecturer and Center associate
Jim Grieshop has won the University of California, Davis, Academic
Federation's James E. Meyer Award for distinguished achievement
in teaching, research and service. Considered by his colleagues
and students "a dynamic teacher and outreach generalist," Grieshop,
has dedicated his career to improving the lives of migrant farm
workers and increasing pesticide safety for the California consumer.
A member of the Department of Applied Behavioral Sciences at UC
Davis since 1975, he has focused his outreach and research efforts
on farm worker health and safety with a special emphasis on Mixtec
Indians from Mexico. In working on the farm worker project, Grieshop
developed educational materials focusing on tractor safety, pesticide
application and sanitation.
The material, written in Spanish and English, is used in four San
Joaquin Valley counties and is being test-marketed for wider dissemination.
He also collaborated with the California Highway Patrol, Fresno-area
judges and others on a motor-vehicle safety game to respond to the
problem of frequent motor-vehicle accidents caused by farm workers.
His interest in the Mixtec people led Grieshop to produce a documentary
in Spanish and English to tell people about this Indian culture,
which speaks a dialect without written language. Most Mixtec people
do not speak Spanish. The video will be distributed nationally by
the UC Berkeley Media Center with the intent of increasing awareness
and respect for the group in Mexico and in California.
In his work on pesticide education, Grieshop has evaluated pesticide
information available to consumers, examining the labels used on
boxes and bottles, fine print labels inside boxes, and advertisements.
From this information and his research on how pesticides are stored
and used by consumers, Grieshop has developed an education program
that he has implemented through speeches and publications.
1995-01-08 ROBERT KRIEGER VISITS CENTER
An expert in the field of environmental and agricultural exposure
drew a record crowd at the Center's noon seminar series last November.
In his talk "Measuring Pesticide Exposure for Contemporary Risk
Assessment, pesticides authority Robert Krieger discussed his work
in evaluating, developing and assessing occupational chemical exposures
of agricultural workers, pesticide handlers and harvesters of treated
crops. Krieger is a pesticides scientist for Jellineck, Schwartz
& Connolly, Inc., and extension toxicologist in the Department
of Entomology at UC Riverside.
Center affiliates joined members of the California Environmental
Protection Agency, California Farm Bureau Federation's Rural Health
and Safety, industry representatives and others to hear Krieger
describe his methods and techniques for measuring Absorbed Daily
Dose (ADD) using passive dosimetery and biological monitoring for
augmenting available databases for pesticide development, registration
and product stewardship.
He described how researchers attach dosimeters to volunteers' outer
clothing or undergarments, explaining how exposure of a particular
area is the amount of chemical extracted per unit area times the
total area. "Biomarkers in urine, blood or other body fluids can
also serve to calculate ADD when mass-balance and pharmacokinetics
at a relevant dose are known," says Krieger.
According to Krieger, exposure assessment is critical for development
of safe pesticide use practices in modern integrated pest management.
1995-01-09 DAVIS HEADQUARTERS FOR NIOSH INTERNET
NEWS
An on-line newsletter containing news and information from six
NIOSH-funded agricultural health and safety centers located throughout
the United States will be coordinated by the UC Davis Center and
disseminated through the Internet's World Wide Web. The six NIOSH
centers contributing to the content of the on-line newsletter are
Marti Childs, Center editor, will serve as project coordinator,
contacting representatives from each of the centers to collect information
about research in progress and results, calendar items and other
information pertaining to agricultural health and safety in the
United States. Details on how to access the national newsletter
will be published in the spring issue of UC Agricultural Health
& Safety Center News.
1995-01-10 AG NEWS CLIPS ON FILE
The Agricultural Health & Safety Center at Davis maintains
a news clipping file related to agricultural health and safety issues
in California and in the West. Here are excerpts from a select few
news clips.
Observer, Corning, CA, November 9, 1994
"Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have launched
a new three-year agricultural ergonomics study. The first year of
the study will be funded by a $207,000 grant from the National Institute
of Occupational Safety and Health."
Tribune, Healdsburg, CA, November 9, 1994
"The number of farmworkers who provide much of the labor that goes
into producing the north country's award-winning wines appears to
have slightly declined due to factors such as the growing dependence
on mechanical harvesting."
Stanford Daily, Stanford, CA, November 29, 1994
Stanford Prof. Jim Leckie studies the effects of pesticides on young
workers in grape fields.
Bee, Fresno, CA, November 29, 1994
A new California Farm Bureau Federation safety program called First
on the Scene will be distributed to county bureaus statewide.
East Oregonian, Pendleton, OR, November 26, 1994
"Medics train for catastrophic farm accidents
Bee, Fresno, CA, December 14, 1994
"Targeted Industries Partnership Program teams were in area fields
in September. TIPP is a multiagency labor-law enforcement and education
program dedicated to calling on California agricultural and garment
industry employers."
1995-01-11 AG CENTER PUBLICATIONS ON FILE
The following publications are available for review at the UC Agricultural
Health & Safety Center at Davis.
The Human Face of Sustainable Agriculture: Adding People to the
Environmental Agenda, a newsletter published by the Center for Agroecology
and Sustainable Food Systems, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Pesticide Applicator Instructor's Handbook (Third Edition), published
by the University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management
Project and the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
HIV/AIDS in the Rural United States: Epidemiology and Health Services
Delivery, Rural Health Working Paper Series, Working Paper No. 6,
January 1995. Published by New York Rural Health Research Center,
Office of Rural Health, Department of Family Medicine, Buffalo,
New York.
Positioning for Reform: A Case Study for Rural Health Networking,
Rural Health Working Paper Series, Working Paper No. 7 September
1994. Published by New York Rural Health Research Center, Office
of Rural Health, Department of Family Medicine, Buffalo, New York.
California Agriculture, reports of research and reviews, published
by the University of California Division of Agricultural and Natural
Resources.
Protecting Crops, Protecting People-Can IPM Work for You?, a 23-minute
video tape produced by the California Department of Health Services'
Department of Occupational Health Branch. Also included is a resource
pamphlet listing other related publications and how to order them.
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