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C.
Connon, T. Hammond, J.
Myers, E.
Freund, S. Roerig and J. Melius
NIOSH Education and Information Division
In June,
1992, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH) and New York State Department of Health investigated
inadequately guarded secondary drivelines on haybaling machinery.
These drivelines were involved in the scalping of four women
in New York state, over a 15-year period. Although retrofit
shields have been available since 1976, none of the machines
involved had been retrofitted. On July 10, 1992, a Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) article was published describing
the scalping incidents and on July 19, 1992, a NIOSH Update
was published to warn farmers of the hazard. The NIOSH Update
was distributed to rural media and every county extension
agent in the United States. Fifty-eight newspapers across
the nation printed the Update which contained information
about preventing entanglements, including improved shielding.
Following this media coverage, the manufacturer had a six-fold
increase in retrofit sales for the months of August and September
compared to sales over the same time period from the previous
year. This method of rapid dissemination has become a model
for the development and use of other NIOSH Updates. NIOSH
is currently exploring the effectiveness of rapid dissemination
of pertinent information to agricultural communities nationwide.
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and Reproduction Information: Information in NASD does not represent
NIOSH policy. Information included in NASD appears by permission
of the author and/or copyright holder. More
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.
C.
Connon, NIOSH, Cincinnati, OH; T. Hammond, NIOSH, Atlanta,
GA; J. Myers, NIOSH, Morgantown, WV; E. Freund, NIOSH, Cincinnati,
OH; S. Roerig, E. NY Occup. Health Clinic, Latham, NY; J.
Melius, NYSDOH, Albany, NY.
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