Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Research at NIOSH Reviews of Research Programs of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (2008) / Chapter Skim
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10 Program Scoring and Rationale
10 Program Scoring and Rationale
Pages 158-174
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From page 158... ...
The present committee considered many ways of determining a single score to convey the relevance and impact of the program in its entirety. It originally considered assigning numeric scores to each of the three sectors but decided, because the AFF Program devoted most of its efforts to agricultural safety and health, that individual scores for forestry and fishing safety and health would be difficult to interpret.
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From page 159... ...
, and the committee's evaluation of these different characteristics did not always fit neatly into a single score. For example, BOX 10-1 Scale for Rating Program Relevance 5 = Research is in highest-priority subject areas and highly relevant to improvements in workplace protection; research results in, and NIOSH is engaged in, transfer activities at a significant level (highest rating)
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From page 160... ...
In contrast, assigning a score of 3 would indicate that the research focuses on lesser priorities and is not significantly involved in transfer activities, and this also was not entirely accurate for the AFF Program. Had the committee been given the option of providing non-integer scores, the score for program relevance most likely would have been between 3 and 4.
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From page 161... ...
Focused Research Areas Despite those enormous challenges, the AFF Program has proved that it is able to conduct sound research on focused areas when given the opportunity. That is the case with the Alaska commercial fishing program (see Box 10-3)
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From page 162... ...
Members of the field station recognized that they did not have a good understanding of the commercial fishing industry. Therefore, in October 1992, NIOSH sponsored the first National Fishing Industry Safety and Health Workshop to • Introduce members of the NIOSH Alaska research field station to the fishing industry.
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From page 163... ...
The research and outreach work in commercial fishing safety has had a great impact not only on local fisheries but on national and even international fisheries. This work and other publications have generated worldwide interest and resulted in NIOSH-sponsored international conferences on fishing industry safety and health: the first International Fishing Industry Safety and Health (IFISH)
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From page 164... ...
The NIOSH Alaska Field Station was able to show progress in many elements of com mercial fishing through assorted cooperative efforts with USCG, NPFVOA, AMSEA, industry stakeholders, and other partners. Since the inception of the Alaska Field Station, there has been a 51 percent decline in the annual death rate in Alaskan commercial fishermen, active interagency cooperation is occurring, and, perhaps most important, NIOSH has achieved buy-in and respect from the commercial fishermen themselves.
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From page 165... ...
A number of the Education and Research Centers (ERCs) continue to provide training in agricultural safety and health for occupational safety and health professionals.
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From page 166... ...
Not surprisingly, some advi sory structures have performed better than others. By using community-based methods designed to engage workers, several Ag Centers have developed some successful programs to address occupational safety and health concerns of hired farm workers.
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From page 167... ...
depression in the blood serum of workers was a factor in encouraging the State of Washington to provisionally require analogous measurement of AChE depression among hired farm workers in that state. That decision was based in large part on the WCAHS research (Wilson, 1996)
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From page 168... ...
Those are important matters that affect the kinds of research conducted; leaving them unaddressed will severely hinder the AFF Program's ability to conduct research relevant to worker safety and health. The AFF Program is engaged in transfer activities, but it has not been entirely successful in developing integrated approaches to disseminating research findings so as to yield additional reductions in injuries and illnesses in the AFF sectors.
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From page 169... ...
. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS ABOUT IMPACT The committee concluded that AFF Program activities or outputs are likely to produce improvements in worker health and safety, and gave the AFF Program an impact score of 3.
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From page 170... ...
The AFF Program evidence package and supplemental materials lacked substan tial data demonstrating changes in the annual number of occupational fatalities or dis abling injuries in hired farm workers and several other populations. The lack of data may be attributed in part to the failure to conduct surveillance comprehensively and to poor data management and collection; it may also be attributed to external factors as previously discussed in Chapter 3.
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From page 171... ...
The committee observed several issues that affected both the AFF Program's ability to conduct research on issues relevant to AFF workers and its ability to conduct research that would have an impact on worker safety and health. Leadership and Strategic Planning The overarching concern about the AFF Program is the lack of a single cohesive vision to drive the research agenda.
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From page 172... ...
Injury surveil lance in the fishing industry appears to have been undertaken more expertly, at least for commercial systems of the far North, and health surveillance beyond hazard surveillance in the forestry industry is in programmatic infancy. Further, the use of hazard surveillance systems for nonfatal injuries and illnesses holds promise for being a more cost-effective model for identifying emerging issues.
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From page 173... ...
In May 1995, NIOSH convened a national task force of experts to identify priorities for surveillance and research on occupational safety and health of hired farm workers. The task force met, but the effort was stalled, and its work was put on hold.
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From page 174... ...
NIOSH has not accurately identified the hired farm workforce and continues to refer to this population as migrant and seasonal farm workers. Federal defini tions of this population for the purpose of providing funds for education, health services, and legal services limits the eligible population to crop workers, but also includes food-processing workers.
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