Review of Surveillance Research - Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Research at NIOSH - page 55

4
Review of Surveillance Research
Surveillance is a cornerstone of public health and provides evidence of emerg-
ing hazards, illnesses, and injuries as well as providing baseline information from
which to evaluate the success of intervention programs. Occupational illness, injury,
and hazard surveillance has developed over the past 35 years, but due to reliance on
the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Survey of Occupational Illnesses and Injuries,
standard surveillance has not provided adequate information on populations who
work in AFF sectors. To address the issues related to the AFF sector, AFF Program
staff have attempted to identify alternative data collection systems to augment the
more traditional approaches.
STRATEGIC GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Goal 1: Hazard Surveillance— Reduce injuries and illnesses in the agriculture,
forestry, and fishing workforce by understanding the characteristics of those inju-
ries and illnesses so as to target research and interventions that reduce hazardous
exposures.
The strategic goal related to hazard surveillance is critical to the development,
implementation, and evaluation of all AFF sector efforts. The AFF Program goal
has been met with mixed results that differ by sector, population at risk, and
hazardous exposures. Overall, the focus of the program has been primarily on
agricultural production, pesticide exposures, Alaska fishing, children, and hired
workers. Where efforts have been focused clear progress in surveillance-based
69