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AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY and FISHING

Status of National Agriculture Injury Surveys at NIOSH

NIOSH is no longer actively conducting national agricultural injury surveys; however, the Institute remains committed to the prevention of injuries, illnesses, and deaths in the agriculture sector. The NIOSH Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Program engages with partners in government, industry, academia, labor and advocacy to promote injury and illness prevention recommendations derived from NIOSH-led and NIOSH-funded research.  

Background

NIOSH began its coordinated program in agriculture in 1990, and in 1996 added youth agricultural injury prevention as an area of focus. For 25 years the Institute partnered with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to conduct targeted national surveys. Over this time, both the size of the U.S. agricultural workforce and the number of work-related injuries has declined each year. These declines have made data collection a costly and resource-intensive process as larger sample sizes are required to determine injury estimates.

As a result, NIOSH did not continue interagency agreements with DOL and USDA to collect national agricultural worker injury data, in Fiscal Year 2015.

Examination of NIOSH’s Agriculture Injury Surveillance Efforts

At the beginning of Fiscal Year 2015, NIOSH began a rigorous examination of options to reshape its approach to agricultural injury surveillance. To do this, NIOSH:

  • Asked for input from the public. NIOSH held a public meeting (click here for Federal Register Notice) and comment period (click here for docket) to gather feedback from the public, namely agricultural stakeholders, on new ways of doing surveillance using smarter, more cost-effective approaches.
  • Contracted with the RAND Corporation. to conduct an objective assessment of the practicality and potential benefit of the agricultural surveillance recommendations made to NIOSH by a 2012 expert panel who reviewed the NIOSH Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing program. A report with findings and recommendations from RAND is available.
  • Identified agricultural injury surveillance research and activities conducted by Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health. NIOSH funds 10 Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health and the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety. Several Centers conduct agricultural injury surveillance. A summary of injury surveillance projects conducted by Centers is available.
  • Requested a study by the National Academies of Science. on developing a smarter national surveillance system for occupational safety and health in the 21st NIOSH, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requested this study to address occupational injury and illness surveillance broadly. Though not specific to agricultural surveillance, it is anticipated that findings will have relevance to all industry sectors, including agriculture.

Questions & Answers

What agricultural injury data is currently available?

The following are available sources of agricultural injury data from NIOSH:

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics provides data on deaths and injuries in agricultural industries based on their Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries and Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses.

The U.S. Department of Labor provides data on demographics, employment, and health of crop workers through the National Agricultural Workers Survey.

What data is NIOSH currently collecting?

To support prevention work, NIOSH continues to use U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data to track deaths and nonfatal injuries among working adults and children. NIOSH also continues to support the Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risk (SENSOR) Pesticides Program to collect data on pesticide exposures and illnesses in multiple work settings, including agriculture.

Why did NIOSH discontinue national agricultural injury surveys?

The changes to how NIOSH conducts agricultural injury surveillance are the result of several challenges. Due to the diligent work of NIOSH and its partners, the number of injuries occurring on farms has decreased significantly, especially to youth on farms but also to hired crop workers. With fewer injuries to identify, the existing national surveys of farm operators and workers require larger sample sizes to provide NIOSH with stable injury estimates, significantly increasing survey costs.

What agricultural injury data is NIOSH no longer collecting through agreements with federal agencies?

NIOSH stopped conducting surveys of farm operators in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This includes the Childhood Agricultural Injury Survey (CAIS), the Occupational Injury Surveillance of Production Agriculture (OISPA), and the Farm Safety Survey (FSS). Also, NIOSH no longer funds injury modules for the National Agricultural Workers Survey, known as NAWS, administered through the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).

Who participated in the public meeting or provided public comment?

Public meeting: Thirty-two people registered for the web-based public meeting, which was held on March 30, 2015. The meeting included presentations from the National Children’s Center for Rural Agricultural Health and Safety, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and the Wake Forest School of Medicine. Additional presentations were made by NIOSH staff. All presentations and a transcript of the meeting are available in the docket.

Public comment: The public comment period opened on February 26, 2015 and closed on May 27, 2015. During that time 16 comments were received from the public, academia, and agricultural trade and safety organizations.

What feedback was received from the public meeting and public comment period?

Feedback received from the public meeting and public comment period focused on:

  • expanding surveillance efforts
  • initiating new surveillance efforts to address current gaps
  • using existing databases
  • developing collaborations with private industry and other federal and state government agencies.

What did RAND’s assessment reveal?

The RAND assessment found that while many of the recommendations made by the 2012 expert panel exceeded NIOSH resources or had barriers for implementation, there are some promising avenues for moving agriculture injury surveillance forward. They note that extramural funding mechanisms are promising. They call out two actions as high priority:

  • Develop concise definitions of populations at occupational exposure risk
  • Identify and evaluate the potential of existing data sources for illness and injury surveillance of agricultural workers.

When will NIOSH determine is future role in agricultural injury surveillance?

NIOSH anticipates proposing its future directions in agricultural injury surveillance in early 2018.  NIOSH has collected very useful input to-date from stakeholders and RAND, and identified agricultural injury surveillance conducted by NIOSH-funded Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health.  NIOSH would like to review forthcoming recommendations from the National Academies of Science on a smarter national surveillance system for occupational safety and health in the 21st century before deciding on NIOSH’s future role in agricultural injury surveillance.  The National Academies’ report is anticipated in late November, 2017.

Who can I contact if I have questions about NIOSH surveillance activities?

Questions may be directed to John Myers at: JRMyers@cdc.gov.

Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health: Injury Surveillance Project Summaries

Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health

Surveillance of Injuries and Risk Factors in Using Workers’ Compensation Data: This project analyzes agricultural injuries captured in two datasets: Iowa’s Statewide Trauma System and an Iowa-based Workers’ Compensation program from 2005-2015 to estimate the incidence of agricultural injury. This project also entails evaluating a new agriculture hazard surveillance tool, developed by an insurance company, to determine if it accurately predicts injuries reported via workers compensation claims.

Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health

Surveillance of Agricultural Injury and Illness in the Central States Region: This research entails conducting annual surveys of agricultural injuries in the Central States region and linking findings with existing data on farm production and operator characteristics from the Census of Agriculture. Further, this research will explore alternative surveillance methods for injuries and illnesses, including analyses of ‘big data’, automated online surveys, and media tracking services to expand the evidence base for prevention.

Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety

Improving Methods for Traumatic Injury Surveillance in Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing: This study seeks to establish low-cost injury surveillance methods for the agriculture, forestry, and commercial fishing industries in the Northeast. As part of this research, investigators will optimize narrative keyword searches; investigate state and regional trauma databanks; explore the utility of ICD10 E-Codes for Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing surveillance; and collect injury data using a survey designed by the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health for regional data comparisons.

Southwest Center for Agricultural Health, Injury Prevention, and Education

Leveraging Motor Vehicle Crash Data for Injury Surveillance and Research in Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing: To address surveillance and research needs, this project will seek to construct a model system to support surveillance and research of nonfatal and fatal crashes involving agriculture, forestry, and fishing (AFF) equipment and vehicles. This project also includes developing and evaluating a process for identifying and extracting variables from crash narratives to support identification and characterization of crashes involving AFF equipment, vehicles, and workers.

National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety

Filling the gaps in Child Agriculture Injury Data: This project explores the most promising, existing public health data systems to determine their utility for adding to the limited data currently available.

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