Review of Health Effects Research - Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Research at NIOSH - page 93

Commercial Fishing Vessel Safety Office, personal communication, November 1,
2007). The AFF sector is not currently viewed as one in which workplace violence
is a large concern.
Sleep Deprivation
There is a growing understanding of the health effects of sleep deprivation,
from trauma (Stallones et al., 2006) to obesity. It is known that workers in specific
industries in which long hours and shift work are common, including healthcare,
are at increased risk for adverse health outcomes directly associated with sleep de-
privation. NIOSH has not extensively addressed the issue in the AFF sector, even
though accounts of long workdays and workweeks are noted in employee activity
logs and are legion in the sector.
Aging
The AFF workforce is aging; a disproportionate number of the workers actively
employed in this sector are in their 50s or older. Aging contributes to the risk of
poor outcomes because of work exposures in a variety of ways, from increased risk
of traumatic injury to higher morbidity from sleep disorders. Age-related health
risks in AFF workers and possible solutions are topics that merit more attention.
Children and Adolescents
Infants and toddlers are not workers, but may be brought into work environ-
ments and may also incur exposures at home, particularly if living in housing ad-
jacent to areas of aerial spraying. They are also vulnerable to inadvertent exposures
to chemicals stored and utilized in the agricultural workplace. Small children incur
differential exposures due to their physiology, metabolism, and diet (NRC, 1993).
Their increased respiratory rates relative to adults have implications for respira-
tory exposures, and oral behaviors of the young increase their risk of ingestion
of any hazardous materials in their environment. Concerns have been raised that
these findings have applicability to agricultural work settings that include children.
Children as young as preschoolers may work with crops or animals, and the issues
of differential risk may apply to these children. Risk due to a child operating adult-
sized machinery or with large animals may outweigh exposure risks.
Adolescents are also considered vulnerable to occupational exposures. A Na-
tional Research Council report (1998a) noted the lack of definitive research on the
difference between adolescent and adult immune and other systems that would lead
to increased vulnerabilities in adolescents, and subsequently suggested that research