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J.
Probasco
NIOSH Education and Information Division
The
Iowa OSHA Consultation Division, under a grant from Federal
OSHA Consultation, is performing hazard evaluations on family
farms. This program has been ongoing during the summer months
for the past two years. These on-site consultation visits
identify recognized hazards utilizing 29 Code of Federal Regulations
(CFR) 1928 (commercial agriculture standards) and other standards,
including CFR 1910 (general industry), NEC, ANSI, etc. The
participants in this voluntary program are exempt from mandatory
correction of the hazards identified. The intent of the program
is to allow the farmer to make informed decisions on taking
corrective action and ultimately to reduce or eliminate observed
hazards.
The
prevalence of hazards on 98 farms during 1993 is as follows.
A total of 1133 hazards were documented. Of these, 50% were
electric related hazards, 27% machine guarding, 11% labeling
of hazardous materials, and the remaining 12% being a diverse
combination of hazards such as lack of slow-moving vehicle
signs, fall hazards, confined spaces, noise, lack of personal
protective equipment, field sanitation, and others. Unsafe
drinking water (i.e., unacceptable levels of coliform bacteria
and/or nitrates) was found in 48% of the 65 wells tested.
Follow-up
data was obtained from 69 of the participating farms. Indications
are that approximately 40% of the hazards observed are being
corrected to some degree, while the remainder were either
not corrected or confirmation of corrective action could not
be made. Within a type of hazard, corrective action was taken
in 54% of the unsafe drinking water situations. The next most
corrected hazards were those involving electricity, with 52%
being corrected. Machine guarding and hazardous materials
labeling both had a 39% correction rate.
Hazards
with an extremely high probability of causing injury or illness
are apparently being addressed promptly by farmers. Conversely,
those hazards with relatively low probability of occurrence
are generally not being corrected.
Two
major deciding factors in correction of hazards are the cost
and difficulty of taking action. Easily corrected hazards
are often addressed while more difficult and expensive measures
are not. Other factors influencing corrective measures are
inconvenience, the practical aspect of making changes to equipment,
low probability that an incident will occur, and landowner/tenant
relationships.
The
degree of success of this program is directly measured in
the number of hazards that are eliminated. A hazard correction
rate of 40% in agricultural settings may not be high when
compared to the correction rate in general industry, but given
the fact that those surveyed are exempt from industry standards,
that correction rate exceeds expectations.
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and Reproduction Information: Information in NASD does not represent
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NASD Review: 04/2002
This
research abstract was extracted from a portion of the proceedings
of "Agricultural Safety and Health: Detection, Prevention and
Intervention," a conference presented by the Ohio State University
and the Ohio Department of Health, sponsored by the Centers
for Disease Control/National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health.
The
authors noted above are from: At the Iowa Division of Labor,
Des Moines, IA.
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