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Because farm labor supervisors (FLSs) are responsible for ensuring safe work environments for thousands of workers, providing them with adequate knowledge is critical to preserving worker health. Yet a challenge to offering professional training to FLSs, many of whom are foreign-born and have received different levels of education in the US and abroad, is implementing a program that not only results in knowledge gains but meets the expectations of a diverse audience. By offering bilingual instruction on safety and compliance, the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) FLS Training program is helping to improve workplace conditions and professionalize the industry. A recent evaluation of the program combined participant observation and surveys to elicit knowledge and satisfaction levels from attendees of its fall 2012 trainings. Frequency distributions and dependent- and independent-means t-tests were used to measure and compare participant outcomes. The evaluation found that attendees rated the quality of their training experience as either high or very high and scored significantly better in posttraining knowledge tests than in pretraining knowledge tests across both languages. Nonetheless, attendees of the trainings delivered in English had significantly higher posttest scores than attendees of the trainings delivered in Spanish. As a result, the program has incorporated greater standardization of content delivery and staff development. Through assessment of its program components and educational outcomes, the program has documented its effectiveness and offers a replicable approach that can serve to improve the targeted outcomes of safety and health promotion in other states.

For the last 10 years, the Partnership for Citrus Workers Health (PCWH) has been an evidence-based intervention program that promotes the adoption of protective eye safety equipment among Spanish-speaking farmworkers of Florida. At the root of this program is the systematic use of community-based preventive marketing (CBPM) and the training of community health workers (CHWs) among citrus harvester using popular education. CBPM is a model that combines the organizational system of community-based participatory research (CBPR) and the strategies of social marketing. This particular program relied on formative research data using a mixed-methods approach and a multilevel stakeholder analysis that allowed for rapid dissemination, effective increase of personal protective equipment (PPE) usage, and a subsequent impact on adoptive workers and companies. Focus groups, face-to-face interviews, surveys, participant observation, Greco-Latin square, and quasi-experimental tests were implemented. A 20-hour popular education training produced CHWs that translated results of the formative research to potential adopters and also provided first aid skills for eye injuries. Reduction of injuries is not limited to the use of safety glasses, but also to the adoption of timely intervention and regular eye hygiene. Limitations include adoption in only large companies, rapid decline of eye safety glasses without consistent intervention, technological limitations of glasses, and thorough cost-benefit analysis.

Background: There is widespread agreement that work organization is an important element of occupational safety and health, but the health effects of many aspects of work organization are likely to vary considerably across different sectors of work and geographies., Methods: We examined existing employment policies and work organization-related research relevant specifically to immigrant workers in the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing (AgFF) Sector of the US workforce focusing, when possible, on the southeastern US., Results: A number of specific aspects of work organization within AgFF subsectors have been described, but most of this literature exists outside the purview of occupational health. There are few studies that directly examine how attributes of work organization relevant to the AgFF Sector affect workers', much less immigrant workers', occupational health exposures and outcomes., Conclusions: In contrast to the broader literature, research linking occupational health outcomes to work organization in the AgFF Sector is limited and weak. A systematic program of research and intervention is needed to develop strategies that eliminate or substantially mitigate the deleterious health effects of occupational exposures whose origins likely lie in the organization of AgFF work., (Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

The community-based prevention marketing program planning framework was used to adapt an evidence-based intervention to address eye injuries among Florida's migrant citrus harvesters. Participant-observer techniques, other direct observations, and individual and focus group interviews provided data that guided refinement of a safety eyewear intervention. Workers were attracted to the eyewear's ability to minimize irritation, offer protection from trauma, and enable work without declines in productivity or comfort. Access to safety glasses equipped with worker-designed features reduced the perceived barriers of using them; deployment of trained peer-leaders helped promote adoption. Workers' use of safety glasses increased from less than 2% to between 28% and 37% in less than two full harvesting seasons. The combination of formative research and program implementation data provided insights for tailoring an existing evidence-based program for this occupational community and increase potential for future dissemination and worker protection.

Objectives: Although eye injuries are common among citrus harvesters, the proportion of workers using protective eyewear has been negligible. We focused on adoption of worker-tested safety glasses with and without the presence and activities of trained peer-worker role models on harvesting crews., Methods: Observation of 13 citrus harvesting crews established baseline use of safety eyewear. Nine crews subsequently were assigned a peer worker to model use of safety glasses, conduct eye safety education, and treat minor eye injuries. Safety eyewear use by crews was monitored up to 15 weeks into the intervention., Results: Intervention crews with peer workers had significantly higher rates of eyewear use than control crews. Intervention exposure time and level of worker use were strongly correlated. Among intervention crews, workers with 1 to 2 years of experience (odds ratio [OR] = 2.89; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.11, 7.55) and who received help from their peer worker (OR = 3.73; 95% CI = 1.21, 11.57) were significantly more likely to use glasses than were other intervention crew members., Conclusions: Adaptation of the community health worker model for this setting improved injury prevention practices and may have relevance for similar agricultural settings.

Background: Farmworkers in Florida's nursery and fernery industries have an elevated risk of exposure to chemical pesticides due to the enclosed nature of their workplaces and their close contact with pesticide-treated plant material. Farmworkers' beliefs about chemical exposures and their perception of employer's or supervisor's valuing of safety may limit the practice of workplace hygiene., Methods: Three hundred eighty-two surveys from workers in the nursery and fernery industries in North Central Florida were collected as part of the Together for Agricultural Safety (TAS) Project from 1999-2001. Univariate analyses and multivariate Ordinary Least Squares regression are used to examine the role of individual and structural characteristics on handwashing practices., Results: Workplace practices such as the provision of written notices of recent pesticide application and the provision of convenient handwashing facilities are important predictors of workplace hygiene. Although farmworker attitudes and beliefs towards the utility of such practices and potential hazards are associated with behavior, they are less significant than the structural variables., Conclusions: In order for farmworkers to engage in safety behavior that will protect their health, they must be adequately instructed and supported by employers and/or supervisors., (Copyright 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

This article outlines a four-step model for developing a training program for farm labor supervisors. The model draws on key lessons learned during the development of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Farm Labor Supervisor Training program. The program is designed to educate farm supervisors on farm labor laws and to support compliance with workplace regulations critical for the safety of farmworkers and the economic sustainability of agricultural industries. Attentive to building partnerships, assessing needs, tailoring the curriculum, and conducting evaluations, the model can be applied elsewhere to address the farm labor issues confronted by specialty crop growers in other states.

Despite federal regulations, farmworkers often lack access to basic information about pesticides applied at their worksites. Focus groups revealed that farmworkers have developed an extensive body of lay knowledge, based on personal perceptions, about pesticides and pesticide exposure including means of pesticide exposure, means of pesticide entry into the body, and the potential health effects of pesticide exposure. We describe how this lay knowledge, when combined with technical information that is required to be provided to workers by law, provides valuable data to consider before developing and implementing health interventions designed to reduce the adverse health effects of pesticide exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Despite recent improvements in the quality and availability of educational materials to promote heat safety in agriculture, success in addressing the factors that inhibit the adoption of self-protective practices among farmworkers remains limited. Social marketing interventions can address gaps between safety knowledge and implementation by targeting segmented audiences with tailored behavioral products that compete with comfortable yet potentially harmful alternatives. The purpose of this study was to collect preliminary biological and survey data during a 5-day period in the spring of 2019 to identify hydration levels, perceptions, attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors associated with the prevention of heat-related illness (HRI) among 29 tomato harvesters in southwest Florida. Methods: Urine samples were collected before and at the end of each workday. Survey data were collected at baseline and at the end of each workday. Reagent strips were used to assess urine specific gravity, a measurement of hydration status. Descriptive statistics, relative frequency distributions, and bivariate correlation analysis were used to summarize the data. Results/Findings: Results showed that a majority of study participants were slightly or not at all concerned about becoming ill from the heat while working despite the wide prevalence of HRI symptoms. On average, participants were hypohydrated both at the start and end of each workday. Certain cooling practices, such as consumption of electrolyte drinks, tended to be implemented at the onset of HRI symptoms. More than 75% of the harvesters typically avoided taking any rest breaks. Yet all had received some form of heat safety training; knowledge test scores averaged 78%. Findings suggest safety behaviors had more to do with the amelioration of HRI symptoms than with training and knowledge. Practical application: To effectively encourage heat safety among Florida tomato harvesters, social marketing efforts must shift current behaviors from a reactive to a preventive orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]