Richard Unger and Kim Cornelius of the NIOSH Pittsburgh Research Laboratory (PRL) traveled to the San Luis Valley in Colorado at the request of the NIOSH Denver Field Office to provide assistance on a study related to injuries in the potato production and packing industry. This work was conducted under an agricultural HHE requested by Colorado State University which involves defining the extent and nature of injuries in the industry and advising farmers and packers about effective controls to reduce the risk of injury. PRL researchers, along with Jane McCammon, NIOSH, and Lori Berberet, CSU, visited a number of harvesting and packing operations. During the walk-throughs, the team collected data and provided verbal suggestions concerning equipment modifications to reduce the risk of hand and back injuries. This is a summary report with specific recommendations for the industry.
An shorter version of this report, Recommendations to Improve Safety in Potato Production and Packing in Southern Colorado, (1600K - all the movies are missing) can be viewed and printed in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. To read and print publications in this format, you must first install the free Adobe Acrobat Reader from Adobe Systems, Inc. Information about the authors of this report can be found in Contact Information. Definitions of some of the more technical terms found in the report are listed in the Glossary.
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