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UC Agricultural Health & Safety Center at Davis

AgHealthNews

Issue Number 2000-01
Winter 2000

Published by the UC Agricultural Health & Safety Center at Davis, University of California, Davis, Marc Schenker, M.D., M.P.H., Director, Produced by EditPros, Davis, CA

 

2000-01-01 Table of Contents

2000-01-02 Welcome and Introduction

2000-01-03 Self-efficacy and safety practices among California tree crop growers

2000-01-04 Are agricultural workers at increased risk of coccidioidomycosis?

2000-01-05 Center welcomes industrial hygienist and ergonomics specialist

2000-01-06 Who's running the show?

2000-01-07 Center investigator releases new pesticide safety book

AgHealthNews is an electronic version of the Center's quarterly newsletter. 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 the Center's quarterly newsletter.

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The importance of examining fruit and nut commodity groups is supported by the fact that these commodities rank first in California agriculture. Fruit and nut growers hire nearly one-third of California's total farm labor force, an estimated 271,000 on-farm jobs. Each year, an average of 86 work fatalities and more than 36,000 disabling injuries occur.

In the fall of 1998, we sent surveys to tree crop farmers in Merced and Tehama counties to begin identifying how the variations in workplace environments impact safety. Surveys focused on specific injuries and the growing seasons in which they occurred. We also asked questions related to safety program components and growers' expectations of successfully sustaining safe workplaces.

Injuries and Seasons
The dormant season for fruit and nut growers occurs November through February, and the growing season begins in the spring and extends through July. Harvest generally begins in August and extends through October. More than half of survey respondents reported that cuts and abrasions are the most common injuries occurring year-round. Sprains and strains are the second most common injuries occurring during growing and harvest seasons, and pesticide exposures are the third most common. We found that exposures were reported during the growing and dormant seasons, but not during harvest, which is considered the highest exposure period for workers farming other crops.

It appears that variations in organizational complexity drove the need for safety trainings. This affected the number of hours per month devoted to training (e.g., crop diversity, number and type of employees hired). Operations that grew more than one type of crop and hired seasonal and permanent workers as well as foremen, also logged more training hours. Likewise, the larger the operation, that is, the more acres farmed, the more safety training hours spent with workers.

Safety Programs
The safety programs of these fruit and nut growers were also quite complex, consisting of various hazard surveillance techniques, written plans and record keeping, and training on a variety of topics. The most common components included equipment inspections and repairs and hazard identification. The most popular safety training topics included: pesticide, tractor and tool safety.

Most growers (81 percent of respondents) reported hands-on development of their own farm safety programs, and many engaged the assistance of supervisors, workers and insurance representatives. One of the "best practices" growers summed up the relevance of involving the input: "The philosophy of farm management is that we all have value when it comes to expressing ideas and…we're a stronger business working together…Everyone is encouraged to state their needs…and to pitch in and help…from the little stuff…to the bigger issues of safety."

BIOS, BIFS & PMA Projects
Three voluntary agricultural demonstration projects--Biologically Integrated Orchard Systems (BIOS), Biologically Integrated Farm Systems (BIFS) and Pest Management Alliance (PMA) have been introduced to growers in the two counties. These are safety projects designed to reduce the use and risk of pesticides on farms. We examined differences and similarities of growers voluntarily participating in these projects. We found that even though these "volunteers" hired fewer workers than those not enrolled, they contributed more time to safety trainings. Social and experiential factors may be involved, i.e., age and years farming, of those enrolled. As a group they were over 51 years old (67 percent) and had more than 25 years of farming experience. These characteristics appear to influence their regard for safety and the importance in taking action to reduce risks on their farms.

Safety and Self-Efficacy
In addition to the organizational and economic elements, socio-psychological factors play an important part in designing best practices. Measuring safety and self-efficacy assists in understanding growers' beliefs specifically about their role in reducig farm injuries and successfully implementing safety programs. Underlying this efficacy model is the notion that initiation and sustainability of safety practices is primarily determined by the grower's expectations of his or her skills and capabilities to succeed in injury control. To measure self-efficacy, respondents were presented with agree-disagree statements describing their perceived expectation that they would succeed in preventing farm injuries. The efficacy of safety training, hazard surveillance, general program components, and mere luck was measured similarly.

The strength of perceived control (efficacy) was demonstrated by the mean scores. Hazard Identification ranked highest (8.39) as the safety element that was expected to reduce injuries successfully. Growers also saw themselves as having great success in controlling work risks (self-efficacy mean 7.25). Luck was seen as having no relationship to successfully controlling farm injuries (mean 3.79).

This sample clearly differentiates between outcome and efficacy expectations regarding safety efforts. They rank high in knowing they can perform the tasks necessary to affect injury reduction and at the same time recognize that the safety plans they choose will have the expected outcomes. The sense of enhancing worker efficacy through on-farm safety programs was expressed in a face-to-face interview by a best practices grower: "…the most successful practices related to the farm in a nutshell is providing people with proper training because it gives them a sense that they're in control…it gives the worker a knowledge base and a sense of accomplishment."

For years, the serious form of Coccidioidomycosis was recognized and thought to be tuberculosis-like and often fatal. There was no real recognition of the spectrum of the disease until about 1930, when it was becoming clear that patients were recovering from the disease.

"When the organism gets into the lungs, it's usually arrested, but if it gets past the supraclavicular lymph nodes and gets into the blood stream, we have what's called dissemination," said Pappagianis. "We know that most people get the infection through the lungs and of those people who acquire the infection, about 60 percent are free of symptoms. Of the 40 percent who develop symptoms, most will recover and will become immunized to later infection. For this reason, farmworkers who have been exposed and recovered become resistant."

But Pappagianis emphasized that agricultural workers are probably no more at risk than any other residents in the endemic areas for the fungus.

"Agricultural workers are most often working with soil that has been tilled, cultivated and fertilized, and that is not very suitable for the growth of this fungus. There are too many microbial competitors in cultivated soils, so the organism doesn't do too well under these conditions," explained Pappagianis. "Nevertheless their outdoor exposure may subject agricultural workers to more soil dust than would be the case for indoor workers. In addition, exposure to the fungus may occur in packing sheds where there is soil dust on the outside of products such as almonds."

He described how the fungus is most likely found on the fringes of agricultural fields and other undisturbed wildlands, and its spores can become airborne when dug up during, for example, archeological exploration or construction and during dry, windy periods. Pappagianis cited several cases, including a group of UC Davis archeology students and their professor who traveled to the Capay Valley in 1968 to examine a skeleton unearthed by a farmer. The skeleton was thought to be that of a Native American. Following their dig, eight of the 11 researchers became infected with the Coccidioides immitis fungus. In 1970, another group of archeological researchers from Queens College in New York came to California to explore Indian burial sites in an endemic area. Of the 100 explorers, 60 became infected.

In December 1977, rare meteorological conditions caused a huge dust storm that blew dust and spores from Bakersfield 300 miles north to the Sacramento area, which is not endemic to Coccidioides immitis. This led to infection of hundreds of individuals outside the usual endemic areas. In 22 of the individuals examined, the dissemination of the disease to the meninges (surrounding the brain) was recognized within an average of five weeks after the initial pulmonary infection.

During the 1990s, increased incidence of the disease occurred in areas that had been recognized as endemic in the past (e.g. in the San Joaquin Valley) but also some areas not previously recognized as endemic (e.g. the Tracy area).

The increased incidence also was evident at Morro Bay, where several otters became infected. In the Tracy area, construction for homebuilding may have resulted in increased dust with the fungal spores and therefore infections. In conclusion, Pappagianis said, "Data shows agricultural workers are indeed at risk of developing an infection, as are others involved in disturbing the soil. But a substantial number of cases of Coccidioidomycosis also occur among those were are not occupationally related to the soil. We think that's simply because the spores are so light they become transported long distances." Pappagianis hopes to develop a safe and effective vaccine that can be tolerated in humans.

Kiyoung Lee will teach and conduct research on exposure assessment of occupational and environmental health hazards. He brings a unique background to his new position. A native of Korea, Lee holds bachelor's and master's degrees in public health from Seoul National University. He received a master's degree in industrial hygiene from the University of Michigan in 1990, and went on to Harvard University to obtain his Ph.D. in environmental science and engineering, with a focus on air pollution and industrial hygiene. Lee served as an instructor in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard's School of Public Health from 1994 to 1997, when he accepted a faculty position at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. In 1997, Lee became a certified industrial hygienist. He thus comes to the Davis campus with strong credentials in both public health and industrial hygiene.

Lee's many publications reflect his expertise in exposure assessment, exposure mitigation techniques and the biological effects of exposure. His research interests include developing new methods for measuring personal exposure to environmental air pollution, assessing human exposure to environmental and occupational pollutants, and indoor air quality. Lee is a member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association, the American Academy of Industrial Hygiene, and various professional organizations for environmental research. An athlete as well as a scholar, Lee holds the 1985 silver medal in downhill skiing from the Korean National Winter Games.

Fadi Fathallah comes to UC Davis with a joint appointment as assistant professor of bio-mechanical engineering and ergonomics in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and as a biomechanical engineer in the Agricultural Engineering Experiment Station. He is also a member of the Biomedical Graduate Group at UC Davis.

Fathallah received his bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Texas Tech University in 1986, a masters degree in industrial engineering and operations research from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1988, and a doctorate in industrial and systems engineering from Ohio State University in 1995. At Ohio State, he investigated the role of spinal motion and workplace factors in work-related low back disorders.

Before joining UC Davis, Fathallah was a senior research associate at the Liberty Mutual Research Center for Safety and Health in Hopkinton, Mass., where he investigated the risk factors involved in exiting commercial vehicles, the implications of using back belts for lifting, and hourly trends in occupational injuries.

Article excerpted from Bridges, a newsletter of the UC Center for Occupational and Environmental Health.

Kathy Ponce came on board in January as assistant manager for the Center. Among other duties, she provides clerical assistance for the Center's manager and director, maintains the list server, and fills in for the manager in her absence. Kathy spent the last two years at California State University, Sacramento, as office manager for its Transportation and Parking Services. Kathy and her husband, Eric, have a daughter named Alyssa (born last June) and live in Dixon.

Pesticide Training Coordinator with the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Project, Pat O'Connor-Marer has been with the IPM Project since 1985. He also serves as associate director of the UC Agricultural Health & Safety Center at Davis, leader of the Evaluation and Biostatistics Core, and chair of the Center's Regional Interactions Committee. O'Connor-Marer received his bachelor's degree in biology from the United States International University in San Diego and his Ph.D. in entomology from UC Davis. He is author or co-author of numerous publications focusing on pesticide use and safety, and organizes and coordinates pesticide safety instructor training programs and workshops for pesticide handlers throughout California.

The Safe and Effective Use of Pesticides, 2nd Edition, is available through ANR Communications Services, (800) 994-8849 or (510) 642-2431. ANR's on-line catalog can also be found on the Worldwide Web at http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu.

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