Committee Methods for Gathering Information - Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Research at NIOSH - page 263

BOX B-1
Letter Inviting Comment on the NIOSH Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing
Research Program
Dear Colleague:
As the Chair of the National Academies Committee to Review the NIOSH Agriculture, Forestry,
and Fishing (AFF) Research Program, I invite your input to our committee's work. The committee's
charge is to evaluate the impact and relevance of NIOSH's work in reducing workplace injury and illness
and identify future directions NIOSH might take. The Committee to Review the NIOSH AFF Program
is seeking input and advice from a variety of individuals and organizations that we believe are likely
to have an interest in agriculture, forestry, and fishing safety and health and associated research. You
have been identified as a potential source for such inputs and advice.
The committee's charge is to examine the following issues for the NIOSH AFF Research
Program:
1. Progress in reducing workplace illness and injuries through occupational safety and health
research, assessed on the basis of an analysis of relevant data about workplace illnesses and injuries
and an evaluation of the effect that NIOSH research has had in reducing illness and injuries.
2. Progress in targeting new research to the areas of occupational safety and health most relevant
to future improvements in workplace protection.
3. Significant emerging research areas that appear especially important in terms of their relevance
to the mission of NIOSH.
The committee will evaluate the AFF Safety and Health Research Program using an assessment
framework developed by the NRC/IOM Committee to Review the NIOSH Research Programs. The
evaluation will consider what the NIOSH program is producing as well as whether the program can
reasonably be credited with changes in workplace practices, or whether such changes are the result
of other factors unrelated to NIOSH. For cases where impact is difficult to measure directly, the com-
mittee reviewing the AFF Safety and Health Research Program may use information on intermediate
outcomes to evaluate performance.
The NIOSH AFF Safety and Health Program provided the NRC evaluation committee with informa-
tion on its work in five goal areas:
(1) Hazard Surveillance—reduce hazards, illnesses, and injuries in the AFF workforce by conduct-
ing population-based and hazard surveillance;
(2) Priority Populations at Risk—reduce injuries, illnesses, and fatalities among subgroups of
the working population determined to be at high risk or underserved by traditional occupational health
approaches;
(3) Chemical Exposures—determine the chronic effects of agricultural exposures/health outcomes
from toxic exposures and develop appropriate interventions to reduce the incidence of disease;
(4) Hazard Control Systems—reduce injuries and illnesses in AFF Program-related industries by
developing and demonstrating control systems and making them available; and
continued