New and Emerging Research in Agricultural, Forestry, and Fishing Safety and Health - Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Research at NIOSH - page 170

Changes in Demographic Characteristics of the Workforce
It is important to monitor changes in the population at risk so that appropri-
ate interventions can be targeted to reduce hazards, injuries, and illnesses related
to work. The AFF working population has been undergoing substantial changes
over the last several decades. For example, hired workers are increasingly involved
in agricultural operations, such as dairy farming or row cropping, for which they
may not be trained. The percentage of workers in agriculture who are hired rather
than being owners or operators has increased dramatically in recent years, and the
same may also be true for fishing. Hired workers may be recent immigrants, H-2A
workers, or seasonal workers who come from other countries. Those changes un-
derscore the need to develop surveillance systems that include hired workers to a
much greater extent than has been the case.
Continuous review of the working population is needed to adapt research and
interventions to other emerging characteristics of the aging workforce. The aging
AFF workforce is a considerable issue (Robert Rummer, USDA Forest Service,
presentation to committee, March 28, 2007; Jerry Dzugan, AMSEA, presentation
to committee, March 29, 2007). For example, the average age of farm owners in
the United States has increased over the last several decades (USDA, 2002); as these
people continue to work through what would commonly be considered retirement
age, the health and safety hazards of work will create new problems that need to
be addressed. The percentage of farm operators who are female has also increased
in recent years, and the risks to females associated with farm work have not been
addressed to any great extent in the NIOSH AFF Program.
Changes in the Fishing Industry
After years of effort on the part of NIOSH's Alaska Field Station, USCG, the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Alaska Marine Safety Educa-
tion Association (AMSEA), the North Pacific Fishing Vessel Owners' Association
(NPFVOA), and industry and fisheries management, the commercial fishing death
toll in Alaska has begun a downward trend (NIOSH, 2002). In 2006, however,
commercial fishing still ranked as the most dangerous occupation in the United
States, with a mortality of 141.7 per 100,000 fishermen (BLS, 2007a). The USCG
report Analysis of Fishing Vessel Casualties (2006) showed that it was more danger-
ous to be a commercial fisherman in the Gulf of Mexico than in Alaska. NIOSH
has been slow to expand its successes in Alaska to the commercial fishing centers
in the lower 48 states, and it needs to begin to do so quickly in regions where the
model could be transferable. In-shore fishery—consisting in New England mainly
of lobstermen and shell fisherman; in the Chesapeake Bay, watermen involved in
crabbing and oysters; and in the Gulf, shrimp fishermen—is substantially different