UC Agricultural Health & Safety Center at Davis
On-Line News
Issue Number 1994-01
September 1994
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
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1994-01-02 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 general list are: 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:
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Subject:
Message:
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Back to Contents
1994-01-03 AGRICULTURAL HEALTH IN CALIFORNIA
Just as California's pre-eminence as the No. 1 agriculture-producing
state in the country is not generally recognized by the public,
associated health and safety issues in California agriculture likewise
have received little national attention. This oversight appears
to be changing, thanks to programs sponsored by the National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)--among them, the UC Agricultural
Health and Safety Center at Davis. UC Davis hosted the first National
Conference for NIOSH-Sponsored Centers for Agricultural Disease
and Injury Research, Education and Prevention Feb. 27-March 1, 1994.
This successful forum brought together investigators and staff from
the six NIOSH-funded centers to discuss areas of common interest
and focused on health and safety issues in California agriculture.
The conference corrected the lack of attention to unique agricultural
health and safety issues specific to California, and more importantly
demonstrated that active efforts are under way in the West to address
those issues.
Back to Contents
1994-01-04 HIGHLIGHTS FROM NIOSH SPRING CONFERENCE
Session One--INJURY PROGRAMS
Jay Beaumont, associate professor of occupational and environmental
medicine at UC Davis, presented examples of safety programs that
include incentive pay and prizes and showed dramatic lost-time injury
rate reductions at several California agricultural producers that
have adopted incentives. For example, one agricultural products
company pays its workers an additional 10 cents per accident-free
hour and one raffle ticket (for valuable prizes) for each accident-free
month. John A. Miles, professor of biological and agricultural engineering
at UC Davis, discussed the many obstacles faced in implementing
engineering improvements in the agricultural workplace. Miles noted
that the labor-intensive production of fresh fruit and vegetables
has not changed for several generations. The work involves bending,
lifting and carrying, resulting in frequently occurring strains,
sprains and back injuries. His objective is to improve the working
conditions and reduce the hazards for workers.
Session Two--PROGRAMS INVOLVING SPECIAL AGRICULTURAL POPULATIONS
Stephen A. McCurdy, associate professor of medicine at UC Davis,
focused on the epidemiologic problems encountered in studying migrant
farmworkers. Analysis of epidemiological problems in migrant farmworkers
is complicated by the absence of a universal list of workers, many
of whom are illegal immigrants and avoid documentation. McCurdy
cited several solutions including working with the established community
structures by obtaining letters of support from state or county
agencies; speaking before groups of farmworkers; paying participants;
giving them some health benefit (e.g., test results of blood pressure,
hemoglobin levels, etc); and giving the patient's community a benefit,
such as the final report of the study. Kyle Steenland and his associates
at the NIOSH center in Cincinnati, OH, conducted a study of neurologic
function among men poisoned by organophosphate pesticides in California
from 1982 to 1990. He discussed the results of a series of neurological
tests his group performed on the poisoned men and a control group.
Tests concluded that the group known to have been exposed to organophosphate
poisoning had significantly lower performance than the control group
for two neurobehavioral tests--sustained visual attention and mood
scales. Stephen J. Reynolds from the University of Iowa's Agricultural
Medicine and Occupational Health program discussed the devastating
flood of 1993 and its effects on the health and safety of farmers
and their families. According to Reynolds, cool, moist conditions
can lead to an abundance of molds and toxins that affect air quality
with implications for respiratory health in homes, fields and livestock
facilities. Flood damaged electrical equipment, buildings and machinery
increase electrocution hazards, structure instability and equipment
malfunction. Flood waters contaminate the buildings, fields and
wells they cover with agricultural chemicals and raw sewage. Reynolds'
efforts resulted in a number of flood relief programs and services.
Session Three--RESPIRATORY DISEASES
UC Agricultural Health and Safety Center Director Marc Schenker
summarized data relating to respiratory diseases in agriculture
due to inorganic dust. Schenker called attention to demonstrated
cases of pneumonconiosis, a dust-caused lung disease that has been
observed among farmers in California and elsewhere in the West.
Robert Lawson of the UC Davis Center provided data on actual dust
exposures among California farmers and farm workers. Lawson discussed
the exposure of many agricultural workers to crystaline silica in
levels that often exceed the occupational standard and noted results
of recent work on exposures to other dusts with potential adverse
respiratory effects, such as amorphous silica fiber exposures among
rice farmers. Steven Olenchock of the NIOSH laboratory in Morgantown,
WV, summarized a large body of data demonstrating adverse effects
of concentrations of endotoxins that are easily generated in the
agricultural environment. Endotoxins occur in numerous agricultural
environments such as those associated with the storage of grains,
silage, hays, straw, animal bedding, animal confinement and processing
facilities, and in horse and dairy cow barns.
Session Four--THE IMPACT OF NIOSH CENTER PROGRAMS ON AGRICULTURE
Session chair, James Grieshop, a UC Davis lecturer in Applied Behavioral
Sciences, reinforced the need to continue with our efforts to reduce
incidence of agricultural injury and illness. William Krycia, director
of Region Two, Cal/OSHA, outlined his organization's responsibilities
with respect to agricultural health and safety and noted that field
sanitation and workplace injury and illness Prevention Program (IIPP)
violations continue to be the most common cause of citations issued
to agricultural employers. Frank Farley, president of the American
Psychological Association and professor at the University of Wisconsin,
pointed out that research that simply identifies or describes problems
of health and safety is not effective prevention. He believes that
priority must be given to finding solutions to continuing problems.
James H. Meyer, chancellor emeritus of the University of California,
Davis, observed that health and safety issues have been among the
earliest priorities of schools like UC Davis and he stressed the
need to expand the scope by forming programs that include outreach
such as NIOSH-funded centers. In closing, James M. Meyers, UC Agricultural
Health and Safety Center outreach coordinator noted that 1) enforcement
alone is not sufficient preventive intervention and the involved
agencies need and want help in the field; 2) The search for solutions
must be a central theme in both research and outreach; and 3) We
must make an effort to actively involve research users and practitioners
in research planning, research application and the transfer of results
to reduce agricultural injury and disease incidence.
Back to Contents
1994-01-05 EFFECTIVENESS OF TIPP
The TIPP enforcement effort started out as a result of the realization
that there were going to be continuing budget cuts, says Victoria
L. Bradshaw, state labor commissioner and a key player in the Targeted
Industries Partnership Program (TIPP) since its inception in the
fall of 1992. A joint enforcement and education program conceived
by the federal Department of Labor and the state Departments of
Industrial Relations and Employment Development, TIPP was developed
to raise the level of voluntary compliance in those industries that
have been identified as having a history of labor law violations
and that regularly employ significant numbers of lower-paid employees.
The agencies have agreed to share their findings in order to establish
a more efficient and cost-effective method of enforcing laws that
protect workers in the agricultural and garment industries. In November
1993, a year-end briefing meeting was held in Fresno to allow TIPP
partners to discuss the program with agricultural workers and their
advocates and to give them an opportunity to provide input and suggestions
on how to improve TIPP in the future. While very few workers' advocates
attended, those who did participate, including some farm workers,
have continued to provide valuable assistance to ensure the success
of the program.
Back to Contents
1994-01-06 NIOSH DIRECTOR--ROSENSTOCK
Linda Rosenstock, professor of medicine and environmental health
and director of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine program
at the University of Washington, was recently appointed director
of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH),
part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Back to Contents
1994-01-07 AGSAFE DIRECTOR BENNETT
Don Bennet, director of the Ag Safety Center for Agricultural Business
at California State University, Fresno, has assumed an additional
role as director of AgSafe. Formed in 1990, AgSafe is a coalition
of growers, workers, insurers, academics and organizations dedicated
to the reduction of injuries, illness and fatalities in California
agriculture. It is supported by the National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health (NIOSH) through the UC Agricultural Health and
Safety Center at Davis.
Back to Contents
1994-01-08 AGRICULTURAL HEALTH: A GLOBAL CONCERN
Why should agricultural health and safety be a concern for global
efforts in occupational health? Quite simply, agriculture is the
oldest and most important occupation in the world. While five percent
or less of the populations in the industrialized countries of the
world are involved in agricultural production, 80 to 90 percent
of the populations in industrializing countries are involved in
agricultural production. Thus, because of its predominance as a
global occupation, agriculture deserves the attention of the occupational
health community in both the industrialized and industrializing
countries of the world. In the United States and other industrialized
countries agriculture ranks as one of the most hazardous industries
based on occupational mortality rates. The burden of occupational
injury and disease from agricultural exposures in industrializing
countries is largely unknown, but based on the percent of the population
involved in agricultural production and the known hazards, it is
likely to be a major health hazard in those countries as well. The
recent increase in research and outreach efforts in California and
elsewhere in the United States will be important in reducing problems
in both industrialized and industrializing countries. The resulting
interactions of agricultural health experts and transfer of technologies
from these efforts also will be of value and may provide a basis
for addressing problems in the rest of the world.
Back to Contents
1994-01-09 MINOR CHANGES REDUCE MAJOR INJURIES
While acute trauma represents a significant cost to the agricultural
industry, cumulative trauma injuries are being recognized more frequently
and have the potential to be even more costly. The costs include
not only the actual cost to repair the injury, but also the costs
associated with turnover, absenteeism, moral, product defects, production
barriers, increased paperwork and potential fines. The study of
"ergonomics" or "human engineering," is intended to aid in equipment
design or arrangement of workspace so that workers function more
efficiently and safely. In one study involving broccoli workers,
John A. Miles, professor of biological and agricultural engineering
at UC Davis, and his colleagues, used a video tape to record and
analyze worker action. They found that the height of the workstations
(buncher table, pneumatic buncher and the packer table) should be
evaluated more closely, and that the layout of the buncher workstation
should be arranged to minimize twisting.
Back to Contents
1994-01-10 AG NEWS CLIPS ON FILE
The Agricultural Health & Safety Center at Davis maintains
a news clipping file related to agricultural health and safety issues.
Here are excerpts from a select few news clips.
The Californian, Bakersfield, CA, May 27, 1994
"Pesticides were linked to 1,804 reported illnesses, including
two deaths, in 1991, the state Department of Pesticide Regulation
said in its latest report. Of those, 592 involved agricultural pesticides
and 1,212 occurred in non agricultural settings. The two deaths
occurred when agricultural workers entered locked buildings posted
with signs warning that structures were being fumigated with highly
toxic methyl bromide."
The News-Sentinel, Lodi, CA, May 27, 1994
"An electronic bulletin board opened in May to quicken the flow
of information about EPA regulation that covers some four million
people who work in U.S. fields, forests, nurseries and greenhouses.
The bulletin board `WPS-Forum,' will be maintained as a free public
service at the College of Natural Resources of UC Berkeley."
Californian, Salinas, CA, June 28, 1994
"Farm workers in California and 10 other states will be trained
to protect themselves from pesticides under a federal program. `In
some cases, farm workers have been found to believe that pesticides
are a form of medicine,' said Diane Mull, director of the Association
of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, which will administer the program.
. . In the first year, $1.2 million program will train 61 bilingual
AmeriCorps volunteers paid minimum wage to teach farm workers about
pesticide training. By the third year of the program, the number
of pesticide trainers nationwide is expected to be 175."
Californian, Salinas, CA, July 1, 1994
"One of Monterey County's most popular bug killers got squashed
Thursday. The maker of Phosdrin, an insecticide used by the ton
on scores of Monterey County vegetable crops, agreed to quit making
the chemical at the behest of federal environmental officials."
Democrat, Woodland, CA, July 8, 1994
"Starting in March [1995] the Association of Farmworker Opportunity
Program will place 28 youths and college students in California
cities, including Woodland, to teach farmworkers to protect themselves
and family members from exposure to pesticides and correct procedures
for treating pesticide exposure."
Back to Contents
1994-01-11 AG CENTER PUBLICATIONS ON FILE
The following publications are available for review at the UC Agricultural
Health & Safety Center at Davis.
NIOSH Alert: Request for Assistance in Preventing Organic Dust
Toxic Syndrome, published by the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
Alert describes four case reports in which a total of 29
agricultural workers developed ODTS following inhalation of organic
dusts contaminated with microorganisms.
California Agricultural Directory 1994, published by California
Farm Bureau Federation, Information Services Division, Sacramento.
This directory contains addresses and telephone numbers for California,
Oregon and Washington farm cooperatives, organizations and commodity
commissions, federal programs, fair associations, California agricultural
publications, a measure of California agriculture and other statistical
information.
Rural Health Resources Directory 1994, published by the
Office of Rural Health Policy, Health Resources and Services Administration,
Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
and compiled by the National Rural Health Association, Washington,
D.C.. This directory includes a wide range of federal national,
regional, state and other organizations that are interested and
involved in rural health. Listings are organized by state within
each category, and an index to all organizations by state in included.
Agricultural Health and Safety, published by U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health (NIOSH). A compilation of articles produced by
participants in the Occupational Health Nurses in Agricultural Communities
(OHNAC) program. Articles include, Health and Safety Hazards Associated
with Farming, the Occupational Health Nurses in Agricultural Communities
Program, the Role of the Agricultural Health Nurse, Agricultural
Injury Surveillance, Scalping Accidents in Shielded PTO Units: Four
Case Reports, Building Coalitions: A Community Wide Approach for
Promoting Farming Health and Safety.
Farm Safety 4 Just Kids: Top Ten List of Activities Promoting
Farm Safety and Health, prepared for National Farm Safety and
Health Week, September 18-24, 1994. Farm Safety 4 Just Kids National
Headquarters, Earlham, IA. The publication highlights activities
designed to increase safety awareness of kids on farms. The booklet
contains ideas that can encourage communities to become actively
involved in promoting farm safety to kids.
AgHealth, produced by the Australian Agricultural Health
Unit, Operations for Farmsafe Australia, Moree, NSW. A collection
of newsletters containing information on agricultural health and
safety issues in Australia.
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