Review of Research on High-Priority Populations at Risk - Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Research at NIOSH - page 65

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Review of Research on
High-Priority Populations at Risk
“Priority populations at risk”, “populations at risk”, and “special populations”
are descriptors used by National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH) in referring to selected groups of people with various degrees of involve-
ment in agriculture, forestry, and fishing (AFF) activities. The definition includes
those “underserved by traditional occupational health approaches” and at high risk
of illness or injury. In the agricultural sector, the AFF Program presented infor-
mation on research among selected populations while for the forestry and fishing
sectors all workers were viewed as special populations.
STRATEGIC GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Goal 2: Priority Populations at Risk— Reduce injuries, illnesses, and fatalities
in subgroups of the working population determined to be at high risk or under-
served by traditional occupational health approaches.
Population studies outside the traditional occupational health approach make
reference to the study of illness and injury, focusing less on the workplace and more
on the social context within which illnesses and injuries occur. Although social
context has been integrated into the study of illness and injury in many of the
projects conducted by NIOSH in the last decade, research focuses on traditional
views of worker populations that exclude family members, the elderly, and often-
times women in the activities of the AFF Program.
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