Review of Surveillance Research - Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Research at NIOSH - page 58

Production Inputs
Production inputs include staff time, external investigators' time, and intra-
mural and extramural budgets.
ACTIVITIES
Activities and funding related to surveillance identified in the evidence pack-
age (NIOSH, 2006a) and through review of other materials provided by NIOSH
and available on the NIOSH Web site are detailed in Table 4-1. There has been
substantial activity related to determining the hazards and injuries associated with
agriculture, with less relative to forestry and fishing. There is little evidence of work
on the surveillance for illnesses other than respiratory diseases. Absent from sur-
veillance activities cited in the evidence package and supplemental materials were
other disease and injury outcomes on the National Occupation Research Agenda
(1996 to date) list (allergic and irritant dermatitis, hearing loss, infectious disease,
musculoskeletal disease, and reproductive outcomes). Research on surveillance
methods was also limited. AFF surveillance needs to be a major priority of the
intramural program activities so that the appropriate information is used to plan
future directions. Hazard surveillance has included extensive work related to the
leading causes of injury-related deaths, tractors, and has focused on rollover pro-
tective structures (ROPS). FACE investigations have identified emerging problems
related to AFF sector injury deaths.
Farm Family Health and Hazard Surveillance (FFHHS): These surveys were
conducted with no planned long-term surveillance, and only six states were funded
across the nation. A number of important issues for agricultural safety and health
were identified by investigators involved in these survey and publications from
these surveys continue to provide important information (NIOSH, 2006a). The de-
gree to which the FFHHS programs interacted with the NIOSH Ag Centers has not
been evaluated. Although NIOSH staff attempted to standardize data elements and
definitions across the six efforts, that effort was not entirely successful, but there is
limited evidence that the uniform elements were used effectively in comparative
analyses (Zwerling et al., 1997b; Scarth et al., 2000). How successful the FFHHS
programs were in completing surveys and generating information also varied by
state. NIOSH has ensured that data obtained from the surveys can be accessed on
a Web site ( http://wwwa.cdc.gov/ffhhs/dictmain.asp ).
The committee identified barriers to the recommended surveillance activities.
The evidence package indicates the full extent of underfunding of surveillance of
hired farm laborer occupational safety (NIOSH, 2006a). The allocation of resources
described in the document “Composite of Ag Budget by Goals and Program Areas”