Review of Research on High-Priority Populations at Risk - Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Research at NIOSH - page 66

The program listed goals for populations identified as meriting special
attention:
• Child labor: Protection of children living and working on farms, under-
standing the exposure. Reduce injuries, illnesses, and fatalities among children
working on farms.
• Minority populations: Reduce injuries, illnesses, and fatalities among mi-
grant and minority farm workers.
• Logging: Reduce injuries, illnesses, and fatalities among logging workers.
• Fishing: Reduce injuries, illnesses, and fatalities among commercial
fishermen.
The NIOSH research priority-setting process in relation to AFF populations
at risk was based on perceived needs, consultation with experts, and charges given
to the agency.
As defined by NIOSH, populations at risk include children, minority groups,
logging workers, and fishery workers. Child labor is a complicated issue because
children living in a farm environment are involved in various farming activities
often viewed as chores rather than work by parents. Minorities are classified by race
and ethnicity, and studies included Hispanic and Latino, Navajo, and black farmers
and farm workers. Many of the studies of Hispanics and Latinos have centered on
hired orchard workers. Loggers and fishermen have received less attention in the
AFF Program than agriculture, consequently high-risk populations in those sectors
have not been well described. Other age, gender, racial, and ethnic minority groups
were not included as populations at risk in the agricultural sector. Intramural ac-
tivities related to populations at risk in all sectors have focused on surveillance to
fill in data gaps peculiar to AFF, such as gaps in data from the Department of Labor,
Bureau of Labor Statistics (DOL/BLS). The extramural activities have been region-
ally appropriate and include a wide range of agricultural settings and populations
that integrate the social context in which illnesses and injuries occur. In forestry
and fishing, there was some extramural funding provided on a regional basis.
The high-priority research topics defined in the National Occupational Re-
search Agenda (NORA) have been modified recently to adopt an approach based
on industry sectors and to establish sector-specific research goals and objectives.
This emphasis promotes research-to-practice through sector-based partnerships.
“Special populations at risk” were aligned with work environment and workforce
categories and share priority status to a lesser degree with emerging technologies,
indoor environment, mixed exposures, and work organization. It is not apparent
how the priorities based on industry sectors might be used to differentiate issues
associated with, for example, child labor in the context of a small family fishing
operation or a small family farm operation. Although the setting is different, some