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Background: Agricultural aircraft operations are an integral part of the agricultural sector. According to the National Agriculture Aviation Association (NAAA), aerial applications are conducted in all 50 states of the U.S. and account for 28% of all treated cropland. A typical application operation consists of an operator (Part 137 certificate holder, permission to apply chemicals to agricultural crops) and one or more pilots. This article explores the risk perceptions of operators (pilots with a Part 137 certificate) and non-operators (pilots without a Part 137 certificate) using data from two industry surveys., Methods: In an effort to explain the differences between risk perceptions of operators and non-operators, a series of regression analyses were conducted controlling for age, work experience, prior encounters with hazards and history of reported injuries. In addition to exploring the aggregated perceptions across all hazards, perceptions of specific hazards were also examined., Results: Data indicate that non-operators perceive hazards as significantly more dangerous than operators. Power lines are perceived as the most hazardous, followed by communication towers and meteorological towers. The regression results indicate that risk perception differences remain even after controlling for differences in age, work experiences, prior hazard encounters and injuries between the two groups., Conclusions: Heterogeneity in risk perceptions within an organization can result in discrepancies over daily decision-making concerning operations. Further research is needed to identify the causal factors behind the observed differences.

Objectives: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), highway transportation crashes are the number one cause of fatal occupational injuries in the United States. The rate of fatal crashes in logging far exceeds the average annual rate for all sectors combined, yet few studies examine logging-related transportation crashes, and little is known about factors influencing the frequency of these crashes. The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with fatal and nonfatal injuries among drivers involved in a single vehicle logging-related crash in Louisiana., Methods: All crashes involving a single logging vehicle from 2010 to 2015 were extracted from a dataset provided by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. Descriptive statistics were computed to characterize crashes by person, vehicle, and environmental factors. A multiple logistic regression model was constructed to identify variables associated with driver injury (fatal and non-fatal)., Results: There were 361 crashes involving a single logging vehicle from 2010 to 2015 in Louisiana. Variables associated with driver injury included no seat belt use (OR = 3.23; 95% CI = 1.47-7.10), a violation issued for careless operation of the vehicle (OR = 3.23; 95% CI = 1.40-7.46), a harmful event classified as cargo or equipment loss or shift (OR = 2.47; 95% CI = 1.27-4.82), and a harmful event classified as the vehicle running off the road to the left (OR = 2.29; 95% CI = 1.12-4.70)., Conclusion: Injury prevention efforts in the logging industry in Louisiana, including commercial vehicle licensing procedures, could benefit from additional driver training to improve crash avoidance skills and careless driving, seat belt use, and methods for securing loads.

Objective: This article describes how perceived discrimination shapes the way Latino farmworkers encounter injuries and seek out treatment., Methods: After 5 months of ethnographic fieldwork, 89 open-ended, semistructured interviews were analyzed. NVivo was used to code and qualitatively organize the interviews and field notes. Finally, codes, notes, and co-occurring dynamics were used to iteratively assess the data for major themes., Results: The primary source of perceived discrimination was the "boss" or farm owner. Immigrant status was also a significant influence on how farmworkers perceived the discrimination. Specifically, the ability to speak English and length of stay in the United States were related to stronger perceptions of discrimination. Finally, farm owners compelled their Latino employees to work through their injuries without treatment., Conclusions: This ethnographic account brings attention to how discrimination and lack of worksite protections are implicated in farmworkers' injury experiences and suggests the need for policies that better safeguard vulnerable workers.

Commercial fishing continues to have one of the highest rates of occupational fatalities compared with other work sectors in the United States. Attitudes/beliefs among Vietnamese shrimp fishermen of the Gulf of Mexico may influence behaviors that are risk factors for fatal and nonfatal injuries. The study employs a community trial with quasi-experimental pretest/posttest intervention design. An advisory group made up of key stakeholders including representatives from the US Coast Guard was assembled. A survey was designed using the Theory of Planned Behavior as the theoretical framework. Three community groups at port sites along the Texas/Louisiana Gulf Coasts were identified. Focus groups were convened at each site to select priority areas for risk intervention using training and awareness measures. Initial and follow-up surveys were administered pre-/post-interventions for each of the three community groups (2008, n = 217 completed surveys; 2012, n = 206 completed surveys). The follow-up survey was condensed and "intent to act" questions were added for the priority concerns identified (noise-induced hearing loss, machinery/winches, and fatigue). Statistically significant changes (P ranging from .000 to .042) were observed in selective attitude/belief responses for hearing/noise and fatigue. Intent to action or to adopt the intervention was high among all three groups of shrimp fishermen (hearing conservation, 82.4%; machinery/winch safety, 94.6%; fatigue awareness, 95.3%). Simple, yet culturally appropriate training and awareness measures in the form of visual and written safety messages favorably influence attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral intent related to priority risk factors identified by Vietnamese commercial shrimp fishermen along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coasts.

Little is known regarding the relationship between neurotoxicity symptoms and injury, particularly among adolescent farmworkers. This pilot study utilized logistic regression to analyze injury prevalence in relation to self-reported symptoms of neurotoxicity among adolescent farmworkers along the US-Mexico border in Texas. Respondents reporting at least five symptoms had 8.75 (95% CI, 1.89-40.54) times the prevalence of injury compared with those reporting zero or one symptom. Significant associations were observed for six items: trouble remembering things, family noticing memory loss, making notes, irritated for no reason, heart pounding, and tingling. This pilot study suggests a relationship between symptoms of neurotoxicity and injury among adolescent farmworkers, supporting the need for more rigorous investigations.

Objectives: This study estimated the prevalence of chronic back pain among migrant farmworker family members and identified associated work and non-work variables., Methods: Migrant farmworkers (n = 390 from 267 families) from Starr County, Texas were interviewed in their home once a year for 2 years. The original survey included items measuring demographics, smoking, sleep, farm work, and chronic back pain. For this cross-sectional analysis, multi-level logistic regression was used to identify associated work and other variables associated with chronic back pain while accounting for intraclass correlations due to repeated measures and multiple family members., Results: The prevalence of chronic back pain during the last migration season ranged from 9.5% among the youngest children to 33.3% among mothers. Variables significantly associated with chronic back pain were age (odds ratio [OR], 1.03, per year increase), depressive symptoms while migrating (OR, 8.72), fewer than 8 hours of sleep at home in Starr County (OR, 2.26), fairly bad/very bad quality of sleep while migrating (OR, 3.25), sorting crops at work (OR, 0.18), and working tree crops (OR, 11.72)., Conclusion: The role of work exposures, depressive symptoms, and sleep in chronic back pain among farmworkers warrants further examination. Refinements in outcome and exposure assessments are also needed given the lack of a standardized case definition and the variety of tasks and crops involved in farm work in the United States.

This study assessed potential biases introduced by using maternal proxies for reporting work hazards, illness symptoms, and acute agricultural injuries in studies of migrant farmworker families. A convenience sample of 79 mother/spouse and mother/oldest child pairs was obtained from a two-year cohort study of migrant farmworker families from Starr County, Texas. Pairs completed an interviewer-administered survey including 27 close-ended items describing work history, illness symptoms, and acute injuries during the 2001 migration season. Data analysis included prevalence, sensitivity, and specificity measures. Maternal proxy reports of subjective symptoms of a spouse or child were approximately 50% lower than spouse or child self-reports. Sensitivity and specificity of mothers' responses regarding hazard items were higher for spouses than for children. For items measuring illness symptoms, sensitivity of mothers' responses for spouses and oldest child pairs was generally less than 30%; however, specificity was generally above 90%. For acute agricultural injury, the mother/spouse sensitivity was 75%, the mother/child 40%, and specificities were 100% and 97%, respectively. Sensitivity and specificity for mother/ spouse pairs was generally higher than mother/child pairs for work hazards, illness symptoms and acute injuries. While mothers may be acceptable proxies for spouses in this population, efforts should be made to collect data directly from adolescent children in studies of agricultural injuries.

While documentation of pesticide exposure among agricultural workers is increasing, similar data describing exposure in migrant farmworkers is lacking. Exposure assessment in migrant farmworker populations is difficult since this population travels seasonally for employment in temporary work environments. The present feasibility study addressed these obstacles by teaching participants to obtain dust samples that could be used to measure pesticide exposure at the time of exposure during the migration season. Using floor dust wipes in their temporary housing, mothers were asked to collect and return via U.S. mail, one house dust sample per week for four weeks. Of 10 mothers invited to participate in 2003, seven mothers submitted a total of 27 samples. Samples underwent chemical analysis for organophosphate and triazine pesticides. One or more pesticides were present in dust extracts at concentrations above the detection limit in 24 samples. Results indicate that farmworker mothers are willing and able to collect and return repeated samples while migrating.