Agricultural Safety

Agricultural Safety Program
Reducing the risks in the agricultural workplace!

Why an Agricultural Safety Program?

Work in California agriculture is dangerous. According to information compiled by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), 67 people are killed each year on California farms and more than 20,000 Californians suffer disabling injuries while working on farms.

This translates into an annual rate of nearly 46 disabling injuries per 1,000 persons working in California agriculture, a rate significantly above the state average of about 35 per 1,000 workers, and even higher than the estimated rate of about 42 per 1,000 workers in California mining.

Workplace injuries are expensive to both the employer and worker. Employers pay a price through an increase in workers' compensation insurance premiums, loss of productivity, cost of replacing the injured worker, potential damage to equipment and product, increased paperwork, and possible Cal/OSHA inspection and penalty. The injured worker also pays a price in physical pain caused by the injury, lost wages, and possible loss of the ability to gain employment. While everyone loses from a workplace safety incident, they continue to happen with remarkable frequency and destructive severity.

Why the growing interest in the program?

In the past, most people believed that job related "accidents" were unavoidable, and were even considered a "fact of life." Accidents were something workers expected could happen to them when they went to work. But those who study occupational injury and illness know they can be prevented. In fact, most incidents resulting in workplace injury or illness are predictable and preventable.

Since 1991, there has been an increased effort by the state safety agency, Cal/OSHA, to promote the theme of injury and illness prevention. With the enactment of Senate Bill 198, all California employers are now required to have a written Injury and Illness Prevention Program. Each program must include an identified person responsible for implementing and overseeing the program. There must also be a plan to identify workplace hazards and a plan to correct these hazards. Employees must receive safety training, and appropriate records must be kept on training, inspections and corrective actions.

In recent years, there has been a growing awareness by agricultural employers about the importance of job safety. Many employers have taken steps to comply with the new workplace safety laws and regulations. Injury and illness prevention programs have been implemented, and agricultural safety managers have been attending safety meetings, training workshops, and educational seminars. Many of these activities were sponsored, or cosponsored by CAB's Agricultural Safety Program (ASP). But there is still more work to be done.

What has the ASP accomplished so far?

SPREAD THE WORD ON AG SAFETY
During the past three and a half years, the ASP has developed a loyal following of agricultural managers and safety professionals. To date, the program has offered about 50 different safety meetings, workshops, seminars, and supervisory training sessions in both English and Spanish. More than 2,000 participants have attend an ASP-sponsored event. ASP also produced a national teleconference that was cosponsored by the Safety Center, a chapter of the National Safety Council.

HOSTED SAFETY BREAKFAST MEETINGS
The ASP conducts monthly safety breakfast meetings. The meetings provide an excellent opportunity for safety professionals to get together and share information and ideas. Topics this past year included a review of the NURSE project; an update on the EPA Worker Protection Standard; ergonomics; lock-out/tag-out; family medical leave act; and a review of safety training materials.

PROVIDED SUPERVISOR TRAINING
Participation in ASP sponsored supervisory training program has increased. This past year 446 Spanish-speaking supervisors attended the workshop sessions prevented in Watsonville, Oxnard, and Santa Maria. The popularity of these classes is likely to grow as farm managers recognize that the first - line supervisor is a critical element to the success of their safety program.

IMPROVED PESTICIDE SAFETY TRAINING
During this past year ASP teamed with the University of California Farm Safety Program and the Integrated Pest Management Unit at University of California, Davis to establish a communication network to help improve pesticide safety training procedures. Called the Pesticide Safety Training Information Network (PSTIN), the project oversaw the compilation and distribution of a list of qualified pesticide safety trainers to the agricultural industry.

PRODUCED A SAFETY RESOURCE GUIDE
Under the direction of ag safety consultant Donald Bennett, the ASP has produced an Agricultural Safety Resource Guide to help the ag industry improve safety procedures. The guide provides the agricultural safety manager and loss control consultant with information helpful for building a company's Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP).

What are we doing now?

SEMINAR SERIES
The ASP is continuing its seminar series. With the help of the ASP Advisory Committee, we identify current topics that are of interest to the agricultural community and invite a speaker, or panel of speakers, to address these issues. Examples of past programs include an update on labor and safety laws, the Targeted Industry Partnership Program, the application of total quality management in an agricultural operation, incident investigations, and how to use the Internet and world wide web.

SUPERVISOR TRAINING WORKSHOPS
Every safety professional recognizes the importance of the first-line supervisor to the prevention of job related injuries. This situation is even more critical in California agriculture with its largely monolingual Spanish- speaking work force. Teaming up with Mr. Jess Gomez and other bilingual management trainers, the ASP continues to offer supervisory training classes in English and Spanish.

REGIONAL SAFETY EDUCATION MEETINGS
ASP has teamed-up with AgSafe to organize and deliver a series of regional meetings at five locations around the state (Napa, Salinas, Santa Maria, Oxnard, and El Centro). The purpose of the regional safety meetings is to bring to the local level information about current safety issues. Speakers represent academia, Cal/OSHA, loss control consultants, and other safety professionals.

BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS
The ASP continues to support a coalition of university faculty, safety professionals, and leaders of agricultural organizations that collaborate on safety education programs and applied research activities designed to prevent job related injuries and illness in California agriculture.

BUILDING NEW PROGRAMS
New ASP activities include the formation of the Western Agricultural Safety and Health Institute (WASHI). The purpose of this institute is to establish the framework for a statewide, multi-campus safety research and education program. WASHI is consortium of California universities with interests in agricultural safety, including California State University, Fresno; Cal Poly San Luis Obispo; University of California, Davis; and University of California, Berkeley.

Who oversees CAB's Agricultural Safety Program?

CAB's Agricultural Safety Program is overseen by Dr. Bert Mason, director of the Center for Agricultural Business and a professor in California State University, Fresno's Department of Agricultural Economics.

Acting as special consultant to the ASP is Don Bennett, director of AgSafe.

Serving as event organizer is Kimberly Naffziger, a specialist in conference planning for the Center for Agricultural Business

Also providing direction and support to the program is an industry-based Advisory Committee. Committee members help identify safety topics and speakers for the breakfast meetings, the seminar series, and the training workshops. They will be encouraged to contribute other ideas for additional research and training activities for the program.

Whom can I call with questions?

For more information on the Agricultural Safety Program, call Donald Bennett or Kimberly Naffziger at (559) 278-4405.

Who supports the program?

To date, the following organizations have co-sponsored ASP events:

AgSafe

California Farm Bureau

Local farm bureaus, including Fresno, Santa Cruz and Tulare counties

Grower-Shipper Association of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties

Grower-Shipper Association Vegetable Association, Salinas

Western United Dairymen

Agricultural Producers

California Grape and Tree Fruit League

Agricultural Personnel Management Association

Ventura County Agricultural Association

California Strawberry Commission

Safety Center of California

National Safety Council

Barsamian and Associates

Jory, Peterson and Sagaser

Littler, Mendelson, Fastiff, Tichy and Mathiason

State Compensation Insurance Fund

Zenith

Safe Net Consultants

UC Farm Safety Program

UC Center for Occupational and Environment Health

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