UC Agricultural Health & Safety Center at Davis
On-Line News
Issue Number 1995-04
October 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
1995-04-01 TABLE OF CONTENTS
- 1995-04-01 Table of Contents
- 1995-04-02 Welcome and Introduction
- 1995-04-03 Schenker Stresses Need For Ag
Health & Safety Awareness
- 1995-04-04 Hazard Perceptions of California
Farmers
- 1995-04-05 Teaching Spanish-Speaking Teens
Driver Safety
- 1995-04-06 Self Study Series Launched in
Agricultural Medicine
- 1995-04-07 Profile of Center Outreach Coordinator
Pat Marer
- 1995-03-08 Center Receives Funds from NIOSH
for WWW Efforts
1995-04-02 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 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 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)
1995-04-03 SCHENKER STRESSES NEED FOR AG HEALTH
& SAFETY AWARENESS
Center Director Dr. Marc B. Schenker was chosen by a universitywide
steering committee to present his paper titled "Preventive Medicine
and Health Promotion Are Overdue in the Agricultural Workplace" on
Oct. 16 as part of the 1995 Wellness Lecture series. Sponsored by
The California Wellness Foundation and the University of California
Office of the President, the 1995 series focused on research that
addresses policy implications or service issues for improving the
health of Californians through wellness efforts.
Agriculture ranks with mining as one of the two most hazardous
industries in the United States. But while mining and other industries
have become markedly safer in recent years, agriculture has not.
One reason for this is that the preventive health care effort directed
at mining and other industries has largely been absent from agriculture.
Schenker argues that, far from being the inevitable result of an
inherently dangerous industry, agricultural deaths, injuries and
illnesses constitute preventable health problems.
By increasing public awareness, directing increased preventive
health care to the entire farm population, and incorporating modern
behavioral science and better safety engineering, policymakers can
dramatically improve the health and safety of farm workers and their
families. Schenker cited farm machinery as the major cause of fatal
injuries in the agricultural work place, and he addressed some of
the specific chronic illnesses related to agricultural work including
"The first step in correcting the current situation, recognition
of the problem, received a substantial boost as a result of the
Surgeon General's Conference on Agricultural Safety and Health in
1991," said Schenker. "There is also evidence that farmers are concerned
with occupational health and safety."
Ongoing efforts to reduce injury and illness in agriculture must
take into account the changing nature of the agricultural workplace
and methods of health care delivery, particularly in the rural setting.
Multi-disciplinary efforts are underway at the UC Center as well
as other regional National Institutes for Safety and Health (NIOSH)
agricultural health and safety centers to identify hazards and develop
safer farming practices.
"The classic approach to occupational disease prevention involves
a combination of the triad of engineering, education and enforcement,"
said Schenker. "I believe that each of these has a role to play
in preventing illness and injury in agriculture; however, solutions
must be sensitive to the unique needs of farming and farm families."
Schenker concluded by saying, "Farming is the oldest occupation
and was one of the first in which it was recognized that work could
be hazardous as well as rewarding; it deserves our best efforts
and the necessary resources to make it as safe, and its workers
as healthy, as possible."
Wellness lectures were presented at the Berkeley, Davis, Los Angeles,
San Francisco and Santa Cruz campuses during the month of October.
The six papers from which the lectures were drawn will be compiled
in a book, annotated with graphs, charts and bibliographies, and
will be made available free of charge. To order, call or write Janis
Charles/Wellness Lecture Series/ UCSD Extension/0176/9500 Gilman
Drive/La Jolla, CA 92093-0176/(619) 534-7385.
1995-04-04 HAZARD PERCEPTIONS OF CALIFORNIA FARMERS
California farm workers face numerous serious acute and chronic work-related
health injuries and illnesses. Some of the conditions associated with
agricultural exposures include asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis,
organic dust toxic syndrome (ODTS), skin cancer, prostate cancer,
leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. In addition, machine-related
fatalities and injuries are prevalent as are drownings associated
with irrigation canals and aqueducts. However, few studies have focused
on these risks or the California farmer's perceptions of the health
hazards in agriculture.
In an effort to increase public awareness of the potential hazards
involved in agricultural production, Center Director Marc B. Schenker,
and investigators Stephen A. McCurdy, Jeff A. Farrar, Lynne A. Morrin,
decided to conduct a survey of California farm operators to assess
their perceptions of risk and health concerns involved in the agriculture
industry. Investigators performed a cross-sectional telephone survey
of 140 respondents from 265 randomly selected California farm operators
and came up with some surprising results.
Only 10 percent of those interviewed said they believed that farming
is more hazardous than other occupations. Conversely, more than
two-thirds indicated that they felt farming was less hazardous than
other occupations. The results were unanticipated since similar
surveys of farm operators in Iowa and New York indicated that most
of the farmers (approximately 70 percent in each state) thought
that farming was more dangerous than other occupations. Less than
10 percent of farmers surveyed in New York and Iowa stated that
farming was safer than most other occupations.
The reasons for this considerable discrepancy are not clear. One
potential explanation may be that the injury and/or fatality rates
for farmers may actually be lower in California than in the Midwestern
United States. Data obtained from the National Traumatic Occupational
Fatality System for the years 1980 through 1989 show that while
California had the highest number of occupational and industrial
fatalities among farmers and in agriculture (including forestry
and fishing), the death rate in California places the state in the
lowest quartile for both the occupational and industrial categories.
Another possible explanation for the perceptions of the hazards
of farming could be that the California farmers surveyed may be
more supervisory and perform less hands-on labor than the farmers
surveyed in Iowa and New York.
"Since our study addressed only farm operators and did not include
or describe the farmworker population, this may result in a perception
of decreased frequency and severity of hazards among California
farmers," said McCurdy. Evaluation of perceptions is essential in
structuring intervention and educational programs. If farmers have
definite perceptions of risk, presentation of opposing scientific
facts may be viewed as unreliable. These same risk perception studies
also show that the manner in which risk information is presented
may influence the desired outcome in individuals without definite
opinions.
"It is critical to understand the perceptions of farmers before
trying to develop a focused health and safety program," said McCurdy.
"Farmers must be involved in the effort and convinced of its worth.
If you focus on an area they see as unimportant, your efforts will
likely be unsuccessful." Even though California farm operators did
not think that farming was more hazardous than other occupations,
their perception of the most hazardous farm job-operating and repairing
farm equipment-was consistent with data from the California Department
of Industrial Relations. During 1981-1990, the most frequently implicated
cause of fatal injury from Workers' Compensation data was motor
vehicles, or injuries caused by highway and non-highway motorized
vehicles, tractor overturns or power take-off. Similarly, a 35-state
farm accident survey listed mishaps involving trucks, tractors and
other vehicles as the most frequently cited cause of injury and
fatality.
The top three health concerns of California farmers (chemicals,
trauma and respiratory problems) closely mirror those of Iowa farmers
(chemicals, trauma and stress). New York farmers rated chemicals,
stress and cancer as their main health concerns.
"Since these health concerns are clearly important issues to our
farmers, it makes sense for us to continue to devote preventive
and research efforts to these areas and, in turn, share our findings
with them," says McCurdy. California farmers can obtain information
on agricultural health and safety issues from a variety of sources.
Farming organizations such as the California Farm Bureau Federation
(CFBF) and county Farm Bureau offices, as well as the UC Agricultural
Health and Safety Center at Davis provide a variety of publications
and videos in both English and Spanish on a wide range of health
and safety topics.
1995-04-05 TEACHING SPANISH-SPEAKING TEENS DRIVER
SAFETY
Using games and simulations in classrooms and teaching programs to
enhance knowledge acquisition and making learning fun has been well-documented
over the past 40 years in educational literature. Such teaching tools
are currently making their marks in the field of safety training including
agricultural and driver safety. "La Loteria del Manejo Seguro," a
driver safety training game, was recently introduced to students enrolled
in the Davis High School driver training program. This project, funded
by NIOSH and the Office of Traffic Safety, was conducted as part of
the thesis/field project requirement of the Master of Education program
in which Heberto (Beto) Valladares participated as a graduate student
in the UC Davis Department of Human and Community Development.
"La Loteria del Manejo Seguro," developed by Center investigators
Martha Stiles, Jenny Rodriguez, Kristen Weeks and James Grieshop,
is similar to the game Bingo played widely in the United States
and was developed to address the need to educate Spanish-speaking
drivers. It consists of 54 cards depicting color images of motor
vehicle safety symbols, traffic signs and regulations. During the
spring semester 1995 at Davis High School, Beto conducted an experimental
study of the impacts of the driver safety game on local teen drivers
or potential drivers.
"The immediate objective was to determine the game's effectiveness
in enhancing the knowledge acquisition of Spanish-speaking high
school students enrolled in driver safety programs," said Beto.
"The long-term objective is to expand the use of "La Loteria" by
having students bring the game into their homes and introduce this
learning tool into their communities." Project subjects were broken
down into two groups. The Treatment or Experimental Group consisted
of migrant education students in their sophomore, junior and senior
years at Davis Senior High School. Their primary language was Spanish.
There were 13 students in this group. This group was to receive
supplemental driver instruction through use of "La Loteria del Manejo
Seguro."
A Control Group was selected from Dixon High School and consisted
of Spanish-speaking sophomores, juniors and seniors with similar
backgrounds. The 15 students in this group were to receive no treatment
but would take pre-and post-knowledge tests to be used for comparison
with the Treatment Group. Male and female students were represented
proportionally.
Beto administered a written driver safety pre-test to obtain a
baseline level of knowledge for the Treatment Group. The Control
Group also took the same written test. Beto met with the Treatment
Group once a week for the spring semester to discuss the game's
safety images, their traffic safety concepts, and how to play game.
In the meetings three to five playing cards were identified, which
were discussed in detail. Once everyone had participated or commented
on the safety concepts, "La Loteria" was played and the concepts
were reiterated and emphasized. By the end of the project, all of
the safety images displayed on the game cards had been identified,
discussed and the concepts reinforced by playing the game.
At the end of the semester a post-test was administered to both
the Treatment Group and the Control Group. Scores were analyzed
and compared by using two-way analysis of variance. Pre-test performance
differences between Treatment and Control Groups were not significant.
The Treatment Group's mean score was 16.31, while that for the Control
Group was 14.50. Significant differences with a higher than 95 percent
confidence level did, however, emerge between the groups' post-test
scores. The Treatment Group's mean score increased dramatically
to 19.92. The Control Group's score stayed relatively unchanged
at 14.14. The results indicate that using "La Loteria del Manejo
Seguro" as an educational tool has a significant positive learning
effect on students' knowledge of driving safety and traffic regulations.
"I think that this project will help the Davis High students perform
better on the California Driver's written exam, said Beto. "Playing
`La Loteria del Manejo Seguro' expanded the students' understanding
of laws and regulations by making it a fun and interactive experience."
For more information on "La Loteria del Manejo Seguro," contact
James I. Grieshop
Community Education Specialist
Applied Behavioral Sciences
Davis, CA 95616
(916) 752-3008
e-mail: jigrieshop@ucdavis.edu
FAX (916) 752-5660
1995-04-06 SELF STUDY SERIES LAUNCHED IN AGRICULTURAL
MEDICINE
The first two in a new series of self-instructional continuing education
publications titled "Case Studies in Agricultural Medicine" are now
available to primary care clinicians interested in understanding,
evaluating, treating and preventing diseases common among farmers
and agricultural workers. Volume I focuses on Respiratory Diseases
in Agriculture, and Volume II covers Skin Diseases in Agriculture.
The publications contain agriculture-related case studies and photos;
questions to assess knowledge about managing the cases; tables and
descriptions of the causes, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of
disease; and a list of contacts, suggested readings, and references.
Associated patient education pamphlets include "What You Should Know
about Using Disposable Dust/Mist Masks on the Farm" and "It's Not
Worth It to Smoke" (available in English and Spanish).
Physicians and nurses may complete a post test for continuing educationcredits/units
(one credit hour in Category I). The publications alert
Directed by Center investigator Bruce Leistikow and co-sponsored
by the the Center and the UC Davis Office of Continuing Medical
Education, volumes I and II of the case studies were funded by the
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
A copy of these case studies and the associated patient education
materials can be requested by:
Phone: (916) 752-5253
Fax: (916) 752-5047
Electronic mail sent to:
dcmartin@ucdavis.edu or
agcenter@ucdavis.edu
or by written request to
UC Ag Health & Safety Center
ITEH Building
Davis, CA 95616-8757
1995-04-07 PROFILE OF CENTER OUTREACH COORDINATOR
PAT MARER
It's unlikely that anyone knows better about agricultural health and
safety than longtime farm owner and manager Patrick J. Marer, associate
director/coordinator for outreach services for the Center. Marer,
(pronounced May-er) has owned and operated a 100-acre prune and walnut
farm in Winters with his wife, Patty, for some 20 years.
"In those early years, I worked the farm and supplemented our income
by doing private pest management consulting, which gave me a great
opportunity to practice IPM and, of course, I practiced new ideas
on my own farm," said Marer. He joined the Statewide Integrated
Pest Management (IPM) Project at UC Davis in 1985, and currently
serves as pesticide training coordinator. In that capacity, Marer
develops training materials and programs, seminars and workshops
for pesticide applicators and pest control advisers throughout California.
As the Center's outreach coordinator, he has focused on bridging
cultural and language barriers in order to disseminate safety information
and training to farm workers.
Marer has authored or co-produced numerous publications to convey
pesticide safety information to Spanish-speaking workers. His credits
include "La Loteria de los Pesticides," a pesticide safety training
game for which he served as technical editor. The game, similar
to Bingo, consists of picture cards and calling cards that help
convey pesticide safety information. In addition, Marer helped produce
the newly released publication and video "Jorge's New Job," which
uses a photo-illustrated format known in Spanish-speaking cultures
as a "fotonovela" to discuss the reasons for and the importance
of cholinesterase monitoring for pesticide handlers.
Marer coordinates yearly pesticide safety instructor training programs
and the UCIPM Pest Management Seminar Series. He also organizes
and conducts large hands-on workshops for pesticide handlers. During
1994, the "train-the-trainer" workshops (offered in English and
Spanish) for instructors of pesticide handlers and agricultural
field workers reached 1,100 trainers responsible for educating more
than 450,000 workers throughout California.
"This is a tremendous magnification of our efforts to reach the
large number of ag workers with quality information and training,"
said Marer. "We are very proud of this program." According to Marer,
the Department of Pesticide Regulation's (DPR) pesticide illness
and injury report for 1993 is very encouraging. It states that the
number of reported pesticide illnesses and injuries in the state
fell 50 percent between 1989 and 1993. And between 1992 and 1993,
the number of agricultural worker injuries dropped by 35 percent.
"I don't think we can take full credit for this, but I do believe
that our efforts coupled with DPR's increased enforcement and many
individuals' and organizations' efforts have led to these reductions,"
he said.
1995-04-08 CENTER RECEIVES FUNDS FROM NIOSH FOR
WWW EFFORTS
The NIOSH renewal for 1995-96 was funded in full with an additional
$20,000 awarded for the Center's activities involving the World Wide
Web. Investigators at the Center will continue to develop programs
and activities that focus on prevention of illness and injury in the
agricultural work place. Money earmarked for the Center's World Wide
Web activities will be used to fund staffing necessary to maintain
its various list servers and home page.
Currently, the Center maintains three active electronic mail lists.
The list server "aghealth" is a forum for sharing agricultural health
and safety information, including new research developments, seminars,
legislation and other items of interest. Subscribers from across
the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia have been identified
as contributing to or requesting information from "aghealth" during
the past several months. The "aghealthnews" list server automatically
distributes the Center's quarterly newsletter to its subscribers.
The newest list server, "NIOSHagnews," distributes a newsletter
containing news and information from the Davis Center and six additional
regional NIOSH-funded agricultural health and safety centers located
throughout the United States.
The Center's home page contains back issues of its quarterly newsletters
and the NIOSH agricultural health and safety centers newsletters,
as well as several links to other servers, including NIOSH and other
government offices. The URL for accessing the home page is http://www-oem.ucdavis.edu
For more information on subscribing to any of the Center's list
servers, send an e-mail message to postmaster@oem.ucdavis.edu
Thanks to NIOSH and the advent of electronic communications, agricultural
health and safety information is being accessed and shared by more
people than ever before from around the world.
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