Leadership and Funding: Changes Ahead for Agricultural Safety and Health

Abstract

For the last several decades, financial support for agricultural safety and health programs and professionals has primarily been covered by public dollars through federal and state government grant programs and appropriations. This federal and state funding provided a tremendous boost to farm safety and health professionals and program efforts for 30+ years and has provided the foundation and structure for current agricultural safety and health efforts and activities. However, there is reason to question long-term sustainability of a sufficient level of federal and state dollars for agricultural safety and health. Public funding for agricultural safety and health has never quite kept up to inflation, but even more ominous is that the entire agricultural safety and health program has been proposed for elimination each year by the White House budget beginning with the fiscal year 2012. It seems prudent, perhaps even imperative, for the agricultural safety and health community to find alternative support mechanisms. We suggest that now is a great time for agricultural businesses, services, and organizations to step up their financial support. Fortunately, several positive examples have recently surfaced within the agricultural community. As the agricultural industry continues to be a dominant enterprise in the United States, the integration of significant funding and the role of leadership from within the industry must continue to expand.

Safeguarding youth from agricultural injury and illness: The United States' experience

“…Research confirmed the impact of work guidelines, demonstrating a 50% reduction in injuries where children's tasks were assigned per the guidelines ( 16 ). Funding has grown beyond NIOSH and USDA to include substantial private sector and agribusiness sponsorship of education, conferences and outreach efforts ( 17 ). Most importantly, positive impacts are attributed to the coordination and collaboration of many organizations raising the profile of childhood agricultural safety and health via education, training, interventions, and accessible resources.…”

About Time to Join Forces within Agricultural Health & Safety!?

“…Even while the needs for research, advisory services, education, and intervention programs with a focus on agricultural health and safety are larger than ever, we continue to see a decrease in resources with less funding from federal and state government grant programs, 11 shorter funding periods for research and less investment in outreach services. 12 All of this will likely lead to fewer researchers, educators, and other stakeholders able to work on these concerns in many countries over a sustained period.…”

Fatal Agricultural Injuries in Pennsylvania, 2015-2017: A Comparative Analysis of Two Systems’ Data Collection Methods and Datasets

“…The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) discontinued its periodic agricultural injury surveys in 2015 (NIOSH, 2018). The decision to discontinue was linked to the declining size of the U.S. agricultural workforce, the number of work-related injuries in recent years, limited federal funding, and the lack of a national injury surveillance program at the time (NIOSH, 2018;Murphy and Lee, 2018). However, the agriculture, forestry, and fishing (AgFF) sector remains the most hazardous industry sector in the U.S. based on fatal occupational injury rates.…”

“…Differences between state, local, and national efforts, such as coding methods and definitions of terms, may complicate the comparison of data regarding the magnitude, representativeness, and distribution of agricultural injuries (Murphy et al, 2018). While many state programs have made efforts in injury surveillance, these efforts have struggled for recognition as a critical component of agricultural safety and health programming.…”