Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #117683

Mary K. Salazar, EdD, RN, COHN-S, Occupational Health Nursing Program, Universtiy of Washington, School of Nursing, Box 357262, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, 206-685-0857, msalazar@u.washington.edu, Matthew Keifer, MD, MPH, Dep Env & Occ Hlth Sciences and Int Scholars Occ Env Hlth, University of Washington, Box 357234, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-7234, and Jonathan N. Hofmann, MPH, Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Box 357236, Seattle, WA 98195-7236.

Orchard work is associated with a variety of health and safety risks such as falls from ladders, strains and sprains from lifting and reaching, and eye injuries and contusions resulting from falling debris. A two phased study was conducted to examine orchard workers' perspectives and attitudes about their work and to learn about their injury experiences. The first phase of the study consisted of 25 semi-structured in-depth, exploratory interviews that were designed to determine a broad range of factors that contribute to work-related injury and illness among orchard workers. As a result of this process, three broad categories of factors were identified: Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors; Work-Related Factors; and Factors External to Work. The second phase was designed to prioritize these factors, to obtain more details about the workers' injury experiences, and to understand their perspective about occupational health and safety. A total of 191 Hispanic orchard workers from central Washington participated in this second phase of the study. It was determined that falls from ladders were the most common injury event, and that reaching and poor balance were the primary causes of falls. Workers tended to blame themselves when injuries occurred (i.e., worker carelessness, lack of skill and experience); however, it was determined that there were a multitude of organizational and external factors that contributed to accidents in the orchards. This study has important implication to future health and safety planning for orchard workers.

Learning Objectives:

• • Identify at least three specific risks related to orchard work.
  • Describe workers’ beliefs and attitudes about orchard work.
  • List at least five organizational and external factors that have the potential to contribute to work-related injury and/or illness.
  • Apply this information to the design of targeted intervention programs to prevent the occurrence of injury and illness.

Keywords: Agricultural Work Safety,

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation