Introduction - Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Research at NIOSH - page 5

sion. According to the Framework Document, the committee's identification of
emerging research areas is to be based on members' expert judgment rather than
a formal research-needs identification effort.
Program Period Evaluated
The committee was given the discretion to determine the period to be covered
by its review. To evaluate the research program's work in its entirety, the commit-
tee chose to evaluate it from its inception in 1990 to the most current timeframe
in 2006. In 1990, Congress directed NIOSH to develop an extensive agricultural
safety and health program in surveillance, research, and intervention to address
the high risks of injuries and illnesses in agricultural workers and their families
(U.S. Congress, 1990b). The Congressional Agricultural Occupational Safety and
Health Initiative applies directly to activities in agriculture, but timber harvesting
and commercial fishing-related activities are implicitly included.
Information Gathering
The review of the AFF Program was based in large part on written materials
provided by NIOSH (see Appendix C). The AFF Program gave the committee a
350-page evidence package and a CD containing more than 3000 pages of appen-
dixes (NIOSH, 2006a). The committee also submitted written requests to NIOSH
for additional information on the AFF Program. The committee met three times
from January 2007 through May 2007 and conducted additional deliberations
through conference calls and e-mail. Information gathering included presentations
by NIOSH staff and other invited guests in open sessions of committee meetings
in January and March (see Appendix B).
The committee also invited comments from stakeholders, that is, organiza-
tions and individuals with a potential interest in the AFF Program. Given that
the research program is related to an enormous and disparate portfolio of sec-
tors—agriculture, forestry, and fishing—the population of potential stakeholders
is diverse and not easily defined. As a result, the committee made an effort to reach
a varied national and international audience in federal and state agencies, industry,
labor, and academe but did not attempt to make its information-gathering effort
a comprehensive or systematic survey of the program's stakeholders, because of
the short timeframe for its work. (Additional details on committee methods and
a list of stakeholders who provided information to the committee are available in
Appendix B.)
The committee chose not to visit facilities used by the AFF Program staff, inas-
much as most members had a working knowledge of the facilities based on visits in