Recommendations for Program Improvement - Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Research at NIOSH - page 193

foundations to provide supplemental resources. For example, the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the California Endow-
ment already have program experience and relevance in the broad arena of ag-
ricultural and extractive industry policy, and they may be in a position to offer
advice and exploratory evidence. The Farm Foundation recently sponsored an
ad hoc committee of stakeholders to provide a forum for industry, academe, and
advocacy groups to explore common themes in agricultural safety and health. A
similar initiative is needed to address safety and health issues in forestry.
Implement Integrative and Interdisciplinary Approaches
Recommendation 7: The AFF Program should implement integrative and
interdisciplinary approaches in its research practices.
It is apparent that the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors are different
and have different subcultures. The AFF Program's best work has been done when
researchers have left their offices and “gotten their boots dirty” in fields, forests,
and fishing docks. During the committee's meeting with invited stakeholders, panel
members from industry and academe continued to stress the success achieved when
NIOSH researchers went to worksites, met their customers, and took a hands-on
approach to their work. In order for this type of interdisciplinary activity to be suc-
cessful, individuals experienced in participatory research need to be involved (such
as anthropologists and sociologists). Furthermore, once the research was complete,
the most effective researchers returned to the field and conducted outreach to help
put ideas into practice.
7.a: Researchers that receive funding from the AFF Program should visit
worksites regularly so that they can acquire understanding of the workplace
environment and thus develop and integrate culturally appropriate and sensitive
approaches. NIOSH program managers and staff should make it a habit to get into
the field regularly to test their hypotheses with workers and should be adaptable
to changing needs and demands. Once a study is complete, measurements taken,
and implementation and interventions formulated, NIOSH managers and staff
should revisit worksites so that they become advocates for recommended changes
and improvements lest the quest for change stagnate.
AFF grant guidelines issued by NIOSH should incorporate “field time” in pro-
posed research. The incorporation of field time can be accomplished in a number
of ways, including (1) prospective documentation, in research proposals submitted
for NIOSH support, of plans, endorsed over support letter signatures, to engage
stakeholders; (2) written evidence in final project reports of compliance with estab-
lished principles of community-based participatory research; and (3) documentary