Introduction - Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Research at NIOSH - page 6

their professional activities. Furthermore, relative to the AFF Program's extramural
portfolio, the committee was confident that they had received sufficient input
from a few directors of the extramurally funded NIOSH Agricultural Centers (Ag
Centers): The director of the National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural
Health and Safety presented information at the first committee meeting in Janu-
ary 2007, four Ag Center directors were invited to speak at the second committee
meeting in March 2007, the other five directors were queried by the committee for
additional information.
Evaluation Data Limitations
In the 9 months given to conduct the program evaluation, the committee based
its assessment of the AFF Program on the “evidence package” (NIOSH, 2006a) and
supplemental information (Appendix C) provided by NIOSH, and also consulted
with experts and conducted information searches. The committee found that
the materials provided by NIOSH were neither a comprehensive nor an accurate
reflection of work that has been done by the AFF Program; rather it was a mere
snapshot of the program that poorly cataloged basic information about the pro-
gram's work. The committee knows of seminal publications and substantial data
that were not included in the evidence package or in the supplemental materials.
In addition, several committee members who had worked with the AFF Program
in the past noted that there were several insightful internal publications (such as
NIOSH, 1992b) that should have been publicly released years ago, which would
have been helpful for the evaluation. The committee is concerned that the AFF
Program is unaware of its own work.
THE U.S. AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY, AND FISHING INDUSTRIES
The agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors are the cornerstone of industries
that produce and market food, fiber, and fuel. Collectively, the three sectors make
up a huge component of the U.S. economy and are a major employer in the United
States (GAO, 2007). Annually, these industries generate more than $1 trillion and
create exports exceeding $68 billion. NIOSH estimates that more than 5.5 million
workers are employed in agriculture, forestry, and fishing (2007). These sectors
also consistently rank in the top six most hazardous occupations; fishermen and
loggers have the highest fatality rates (BLS, 2007a). Collectively, the three sectors
consistently have the highest injury and fatality rates of any U.S. industries, so
the overall effect on the safety and health of exposed populations in agricultural,
forestry, and fishing worksites is enormous (Hard et al., 2002; Frank et al., 2004;
BLS, 2007a).