Methods for Identifying the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Workforce Population - Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Research at NIOSH - page 301

TABLE E-5 Hired Farmworker Employment, Farm Labor Contractors,
California, 2000: Comparison of Farm Labor Survey, Agricultural Bulletin Surveys,
and ES202 Reports

Agricultural
Bulletin (CA-EDD)

Universal Reports from
All Employers

Month and Week Farm Labor (FLS)

January 9-15 75,000 69,700 96,017

April 9-15 85,000 86,600 134,475

July 9-15 99,000 150,300 177,409

October 8-14 86,000 109,100 135,949

coverage through the public sector, in this case the Department of Labor and Indus-
tries. Other states, such as California, permit coverage through private insurance
providers or through a public agency, the State Compensation Insurance Fund.
Actuarial reports are annual reports that summarize claim frequencies by
occupational risk category. There are 14 nationally recognized risk categories
related to agriculture, and claim records of exposure of all workers in each risk
category (based on payroll totals) and numerous other details are regularly pro-
duced to enable insurance providers to base premium rates on claim frequency
and experience.
Paid workers' compensation claims have been reviewed and analyzed to obtain
reasonably accurate estimates of employment and estimates of the cumulative
prevalence of injury and illness in hired farm laborers in California and other states
(Villarejo, 1997). The actuarial agency responsible for rate-setting in California has
used its own analysis of the surveillance data available from the records of paid
claims to determine which factors are important in reducing workplace injuries
and illnesses (WCIRB, 2002).
To illustrate the potential usefulness of those data for surveillance purposes,
Table E-6 presents the 10-year summary of hired farm-laborer paid claims under
workers' compensation insurance in California. It is not known whether all eli-
gible persons filed such claims, but it is very likely that the most serious incidents,
fatalities and permanent disabilities, resulted in payment under workers' compen-
sation. The data in Table E-6 refer to all paid claims in the 14 classification codes
that refer to on-farm work, both crop and livestock. The term “Claim Frequency
Report (Level 5)” refers to summary information on paid claims through the fifth
year following the policy year. It is necessary to carefully consider the number and
actual costs associated with paid claims through a long period after the year in
which the incident took place because some claims are initially challenged by the