About Time to Join Forces within Agricultural Health & Safety!?

We are now well into the year 2021 - fully into a new decade, and still, those who work in agriculture do so at great risk serving an industry with one of the highest rates of fatalities worldwide.¹ As an example; agriculture in Great Britain has the worst rate of worker fatal injury (per 100,000) of the main industrial sectors.² It is 18 times as high as the average rate across all industries. Similar figures are reported from other countries.^3–6 The pressures on farmers, farm families, and farm workers due to changing politics, economic challenges, unpredictable weather, natural disasters, global markets, transport systems, rural isolation, and rural crime leads to increasing frustration, stress, mental health concerns, and suicide.^7–10 In 2020, we also saw BOTH the pressures induced by a global pandemic, but also the direct impacts of the SARS-CoV-2 on farm workers added to current pressures.

Even while the needs for research, advisory services, education, and intervention programs with a focus on agricultural health and safety are larger than ever, we continue to see a decrease in resources with less funding from federal and state government grant programs,¹¹ shorter funding periods for research and less investment in outreach services.¹² All of this will likely lead to fewer researchers, educators, and other stakeholders able to work on these concerns in many countries over a sustained period. Fewer resources and people mean far less potential impact on the health and safety challenges that agriculturalists now face.

Many of us as researchers, educators, outreach specialists and other type of stakeholders are involved in different networks and organizations. We do this to learn from each other and to develop skills and knowledge to help achieve a higher impact of our work to prevent death, injuries, and work-related illness. In working together, we want to voice our opinion about the need for focused resources, greater attention on the unique health and safety concerns, and other activities that require high levels of engagement to ensure safer and healthier working conditions within the industry. Even though there are fewer people engaged in these issues as stakeholders, we have split ourselves up into many different networks and organizations. This split has fragmented our collective voice on agricultural safety and health.

This widespread engagement by those who do work in this field might be a good sign; but it also dilutes effort. Fragmentation consumes money and time. As a result of being so fragmented in our efforts, organizations have struggled to find the financial resources necessary to develop, implement, and evaluate effective intervention efforts. This has led to making it difficult to achieve meaningful and lasting impact. In fact, at times, despite international efforts, it appears we have had low or even non-existent impact on agricultural health and safety, at least regarding fatal and non-fatal injuries, both nationally and internationally, as indicated earlier.^2–6

Today there are a large number of international, national, and regional organizations, all with a focus on health & safety in agriculture. Table 1 provides a number of examples of formal organizations. Additionally, there are also many less formal networks, such as the Nordic network (with the Nordic Meeting), as well as a multitude of regional networks in Asia (South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan) and in other parts of the world. Within countries, in many cases, agricultural safety and health efforts are often further fragmented as individual organizations (often organized around types of farm products – beef, pork, dairy, and different types of crops) develop their own smaller-scale initiatives and special programs.

Table 1. Examples of international and national organizations and networks with a focus on health and safety in agriculture

Acronym	Title	National/International	Web-page
ISSA	International Section of the International Social Security Association ISSA on Prevention in Agriculture	International	https://ww1.issa.int/prevention-agriculture
ISASH	International Society of Agricultural Safety and Health	International (started as the National Institute for Farm Safety)	www.isash.org
IARM	International Association of Rural Health and Medicine	International	www.iarm-jrm.org/
ICOH	International Commission on Occupational Health, (Scientific Committee Rural Health: Agriculture, Pesticides and Organic Dusts)	International	http://www.icohweb.org/site/scientific-committee-detail.asp?sc=41
IEA	International Ergonomics Association, (Technical Committee Agriculture)	International	https://iea.cc/leadership/technical-committees/
ASABE	American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, (Ergonomic, Safety. and Health Division)	North America/International	www.asabe.org
ASHCA	Agricultural Safety & Health Council of America	U.S.A./North America	www.ashca.org
ENASP	European Network of Agricultural Social Protection Systems	Europe	https://www.svlfg.de/enasp
SACURIMA	Safety Culture and Risk Management in Agriculture, (COST/EU)	Europe	https://www.sacurima.eu/

We must find ways to better align organizational interests and loyalties – for example, in the U.S., ISASH, ASHCA, and ASABE all have differing members, stakeholders, and constituency groups that are often organized around the industry in which they work. Yet, it is likely that the majority of their efforts, mission, and desired outcomes are similar. Not only do these friendly divisions weaken and water down collective efforts, they also preclude participation and engagement across multiple organizations predominately because of time and money constraints.

To make a real impact on the industry and international organizations and authorities, our personnel, organizations, networks, and policymakers who work diligently on health and safety in agriculture, must collaborate more strategically and purposefully than today:

• In November 2022, instead of November 2020, due to the COVID-19, the World Injury Prevention Conference will be held in Adelaide, Australia (worldsafety2020.com). This event will include a combined day with the Farmsafe Australia Conference. It is our hope that participating in these activities and working towards a global statement of Agricultural Safety and Health would be a first step.

• As a follow-up to activities in 2022, as we learn about each other and to show the need for action with the combined strength of our organizations and networks, we envision a World Conference 2024 organized by all major organizations and networks together – with the theme ”Agricultural Health and Safety from a Global and Sustainable Perspective”. This could be accomplished perhaps in collaboration with WHO and ILO.

• From these activities, it might then be possible to create an umbrella organization (perhaps growing from an already existing organization) to form a cohesive global organization for health and safety in agriculture. Such a global organization could include Chapters (or membership of existing organizations) representing each of our continents to focus on their specific needs – with the global organization hosting a joint World Conference every three or four years. The aim would be to work together on a global scale to make real changes for everyone working in agriculture, using the regional and local networks to deliver evidence-based programs. All countries would be the beneficiaries of this integration, as there is no country in the world without farmers and agricultural production. This effort would also benefit agriculture by:

  • Providing opportunities to enhance the health and safety of farmers in developing countries, where agricultural activity plays a leading role, being often the main economic and subsistence activity of its inhabitants. Participants from those countries could be engaged, allowing them to develop and deliver programs that are culturally, economic, and linguistically appropriate for the different regions of the world that often vary greatly – even across relatively small geographic distances.

Allowing the experiences of the most advanced countries in agricultural health and safety to help others not to have to make the “same mistakes,” or re-invent the wheel. Successful efforts could be better shared as examples that motivate others to replicate successful, evidence-based activities. Also, by knowing that many of the problems are common to different countries, it would be easier to solve them more quickly, as information and experiences could be more consistently shared.

• This international organization should reflect current world agricultural production – but, also must be highly relevant at a local level. It would need to help to deliver best practices and evidence-based interventions across the globe, leveraging the past work of those who have been successful. It is also an imperative that work-related health and safety be embedded in the evolving practices and trends being widely discussed and promoted globally such as “sustainable agriculture.” As part of these advocacy and promotion efforts, agricultural health and safety should be raised as a key issue in an effort to raise its visibility and status in FAO, IICA, and other global forums.

• Another important goal is to increase the visibility and recognition of the “profession” and science base of agricultural safety and health. Global institutions must acknowledge the value of the science and practice of this field. One mechanism would be to clearly define core competencies among practitioners whether they work in research, epidemiology, prevention, education, engineering, design, human factors, medicine, behavior change theory, or communication.

We challenge you – the leaders of all organizations and networks with a focus on agricultural health and safety in agriculture. We invite you and others to actively engage in discussions with the first goal to increase your collaboration with the aim to get a greater impact on health and safety for agriculture – globally!