AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHING

Burden

Between 2007 and 2010, 2,014 cases of acute occupational pesticide-related illness were identified by the eleven states participating at that time in the Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risks (SENSOR)-Pesticides program. Workers in agriculture suffered from these illnesses at a rate 37 times that of workers in non-agricultural industries (18.4 per 100,000 full-time workers vs. 0.5 per 100,000 full-time workers, respectively).¹ Those numbers do not include any of the chronic or long-term illnesses that have been associated with exposure to certain pesticides in some studies such as cancers, neurological problems, asthma, immune problems, and birth defects.

Need

Ongoing and additional research is needed to further confirm these associations and to understand the biological mechanisms of action. Currently, there is no central national pesticide poisoning surveillance system in the United States. Therefore, acute occupational pesticide-related illness and injury surveillance through the SENSOR-Pesticide program is essential to protect workers by determining the magnitude and underlying causes of over-exposure to pesticides in the workplace. NIOSH works closely with the 12 currently-participating states to build and maintain their capacity for surveillance of work-related injury and illness, and uses the SENSOR-collected data to detect and respond to national trends. To improve surveillance efforts, better biomarkers and diagnostic tools to confirm cases of acute pesticide poisoning need to be developed and applied. More research to describe and characterize potential health effects of chronic pesticide exposure at different levels, including low levels, are also needed. Intervention and translation research is needed to develop, evaluate and promote the implementation of evidence-based intervention, technology and best practices to reduce or prevent pesticide exposure.

Impact

Data from SENSOR-pesticides has informed policy change. For example, in 2014, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) used SENSOR findings on the causes of poisonings to inform the Agricultural Worker Protection Standard’s new standards and estimate the revised rule’s benefits. These robust changes have potential to reduce handler and farmworker pesticide exposure, especially among young workers.

Data from the SENSOR-pesticides program also contributed to the development and passage of legislation enacted in North Carolina in 2008 that resulted in funding to strengthen surveillance, improve the quality of pesticide compliance inspections, and increase and improve pesticide safety training.² Ongoing NIOSH-funded research through the Agricultural Safety and Health Centers to develop improved tools for detection of certain pesticides, design and/or evaluate interventions and strategies to reduce or prevent pesticide exposure have potential for impact.

Burden

Commercial fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in the U.S. In 2014, fishing industry workers had the second highest worker fatal injury rate of all civilian occupations. At 80.8 injury deaths per 100,000 full-time workers, this rate is 25 times higher than the rate for all U.S workers (3.4 per 100,000 full-time workers).³ NIOSH maintains the Commercial Fishing Incident Database, a surveillance system for workplace fatalities in the commercial fishing industry in the United States. A review of database data⁴ from 2000 through 2015 found that:

• 725 work-related deaths occurred in the U.S. fishing industry;
• Approximately half of these deaths (49%) occurred after vessel disasters (e.g. sinking, capsizing);
• Another 30% resulted from falls overboard.

Need

The NIOSH Center for Maritime Safety and Health Studies is the primary source for research to inform policies and interventions related to improving worker safety in the U.S. commercial fishing industry. The program identifies fishery specific hazards and works with industry, non-governmental, and government partners to develop evidence-based engineering, administrative, and behavioral interventions and inform safety policies to prevent fatalities in specific fisheries. Transfer of the results of the program’s epidemiologic and engineering research through health communication tools, publications and media is essential.

Impact

From 2000 to 2015, the number of commercial fishing fatalities decreased by 39% nationally.⁵ One specific example is success in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Island Crab Fleet, where research and safety initiatives contributed to a reduction in risk from 768 deaths per 100,000 full-time workers during 1990-1999 to 305 deaths per 100,000 full-time workers during 2000-2006.⁶ The NIOSH Center for Maritime Safety and Health Studies with its partners has also created several engineering solutions for various types of fishing vessels that have been licensed for commercialization. These include a hatch/door monitor and an emergency stop (E-stop) that can be retrofitted to any purse seine winch. For more specific examples of impact, please visit the NIOSH Commercial Fishing topic page.

Through the successful, long-term research, training, and prevention partnerships developed by the NIOSH Commercial Fishing Program, there continues to be great potential for impact, especially in the high-priority focus areas of vessel disasters and falls overboard. Collaborative efforts to implement safety-related policies, encourage the use of personal flotation devices (PFDs), and engineer hazards out of equipment and processes are ongoing.

Burden

Logging has consistently been one of the most hazardous occupations in the U.S. In 2014, logging workers had the highest civilian occupational fatality rate of all occupations, at 110.9 per 100,000 full-time workers—nearly 33 times the national average for all industries.⁷ This excessive risk for fatal work injuries points to a need for prioritizing research and intervention programs to make this industry less hazardous.

Need

Surveillance in the forestry sector is challenging. Many forestry workers are employed through non-traditional employment relationships or work on small farms that are exempt from federal workplace safety regulations. These workers are therefore more vulnerable to workplace injuries and are not captured in routine Department of Labor data collection systems.⁸ NIOSH is expanding its coordinated extramural research program to supplement gaps in knowledge about work-related injuries and illnesses among forestry workers, and to develop and test evidence-based interventions and technologies to reduce fatal and non-fatal injuries.

Impact

NIOSH is working to rapidly expand its portfolio in this area to conduct high-priority safety and health research, cultivate a cadre of occupational safety and health researchers who work closely with this industry, and develop effective solutions to pressing safety and health problems affecting forestry workers. Through research funded by NIOSH, for example, the Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center has introduced light-weight synthetic rope to replace heavy wire cables which can reduce the body burden for the aging logging workforce. Ongoing research projects aim to address a variety of issues, including improving communication systems, characterizing injuries and illnesses among populations of forestry workers, safety management training, and managing high-risk work tasks.

Burden

Many vulnerable workers are employed in these industries and attention must be paid to disparities in exposures and outcomes among vulnerable worker groups. Women, foreign-born workers, children and young workers, and older workers make up large and increasing proportions of workers in these sectors. These groups of workers tend to have disparate rates of work-related injuries and illnesses as a result of physical, individual, social, and structural determinants of health, and therefore may require different approaches and more intensive attention to reduce disparities and prevent injuries and illnesses effectively.

For example, female agriculture workers are more likely than male workers to experience sexual assault at work in agriculture.⁹ Older farmers have a higher rate of skin cancer, high blood pressure, and hearing problems when compared to older workers in the general population.¹⁰From 2003 to 2010, among workers younger than 16 years, the number of worker fatalities in agriculture was consistently higher than in all non-agricultural industries combined.¹¹ Youth agricultural deaths and injuries cost society an estimated $420 million and $1 billion per year respectively (in 2005 dollars).¹²

Need

Most surveillance databases and data collection methods used to collect information on occupational illness and injuries do not have representative coverage of all workers, workplaces and geographic areas. Databases and data collection methods can be improved to better identify and characterize the vulnerable worker population in the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector, and the safety and health risks and outcomes they experience. Research is also needed to develop and evaluate preventive intervention and training programs that are tailored to the unique needs of these populations.

Impact

The Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health and other grant and cooperative agreement efforts comprise a large portfolio of research focused on reducing disparities and inequities and keeping vulnerable agriculture, forestry, and fishing workers safe on the job. For example, the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, established in 1997, has become the leading program dedicated to childhood agricultural injury prevention in the U.S. and strives to respond to the needs of all children in agriculture and rural communities, including migrant, immigrant, seasonal workers; workers with language limitations; and Anabaptists, African-Americans, Native Americans and Hmong populations. In addition to a large body of work related to children, several current projects conduct research, intervention, and prevention activities with foreign-born workers, workers with limited English proficiency, migrant workers, older workers, non-traditional farmers, and other populations at elevated risk in agriculture, forestry, and fishing.

Burden

Contact with the outdoors and animals puts agriculture, forestry, and fishing workers at risk for vector-borne and zoonotic transmission of infectious diseases,^13-16such as Lyme disease, West Nile Virus, and influenza. Changes in temperature are likely to expand both the geographic areas and seasons in which vectors may be endemic, which may increase the risk of vector-borne diseases.¹⁷ Heat and cold stress influence environmental exposures that would disproportionately affect workers in agriculture, forestry, and fishing.¹⁸

Need

More research is needed to understand the ways in which temperature changes are likely to affect workers, which vectors and infectious agents are likely to become more common and in what geographic areas, and how these can be prevented.

Impact

There is a great potential for impact from current NIOSH-funded research, especially in the areas of heat illness prevention, assessment of environmental exposures, and surveillance of zoonotic diseases in agriculture workers and veterinarians. The NIOSH-funded Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center, for example, has integrated the One Health concept as a central element guiding its work.