Covington, LA – Agriculture, forestry, and fishing workers face life-threatening hazards daily. Their labor-intensive work often takes place outdoors in remote locations, where access to emergency medical services is sparse. But it is not just job hazards that impact their well-being – most workers live in rural areas, where health disparities further exacerbate their health risks.
In 2021, there were 19.5 industry-related deaths per 100,000 workers in the Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting sectors, and 4.6 workers per every 100 were ill or injured at some point on the job (BLS 2021). In 2019, death rates for rural Americans were 19% higher for males and 21% higher for females compared to their urban counterparts (NCHS 2021). When looking at these numbers, it is clear that we need to take action. But it is also worth noting that the death rates have been steadily declining since 1999 (NCHS 2021).
Since 1944, the United States has observed National Farm Safety and Health Week (NFSHW) during the third week of September. By raising awareness and educating communities on health and safety hazards, risk reduction, and accident prevention, we can improve the health outcomes for agriculture, forestry, and fishing workers. This year, NFSHW will take place from September 17-23, 2023. Each weekday has its own topic: Monday is Equipment & Rural Roadway Safety; Tuesday is Health & Wellness; Wednesday is Priority Populations; Thursday is Confined Spaces; and Friday is Brain Health.
AgriSafe will provide 10 free educational webinars from Monday the 18th through Friday the 22nd. All webinars will have live Spanish interpretation, and will take place on Zoom from noon-1pm CDT and 2pm-3pm CDT. Topics include ATV safety, chainsaw safety, infectious disease prevention on farms, cardiovascular health, mental health access for farmworkers, confined spaces on dairy farms, grain entrapment prevention and response, mental health, and stress. For more information or to register for these free webinars, visit: https://www.agrisafe.org/nfshw.
Check out AgriSafe’s marketing materials for the webinars in our Dropbox, view the NFSHW promotional toolkit from the Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center (UMASH) on their website, and access the NFSHW logos from the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety (NECAS) on their website.
AgriSafe is grateful to our sponsors for helping to support the wide distribution of this week’s events: CHS, Agri Services Agency (ASA), Successful Farming, Pork Checkoff, Scoular, and the following NIOSH Agricultural Centers- the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health (CS-CASH), the Southwest Center for Agricultural Health, Injury Prevention, and Education (SW Ag Center), the Southeast Center for Agricultural Health and Injury Prevention (SCAHIP), and the Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety (Northeast Center).
For media inquiries, please contact Laura Siegel, AgriSafe’s Health Communications Officer, at lsiegel@agrisafe.org. To explore options for sponsoring AgriSafe initiatives, please contact Allison Flynn, AgriSafe’s Development Coordinator, at aflynn@agrisafe.org.
