Protecting Young Agricultural Workers: The Development of an Online Supervisor Training

ABSTRACT

Adolescents and young adults working in agriculture are at greater risk of injury. We describe the development of an online safety and health training for people who hire, teach, or supervise young agricultural workers. The online training targeted specific skills supervisors can use to effectively supervise, train, and communicate with young workers about health and safety hazards that impact injury risk. Consistent with NIOSH’s evidence-based Total Worker Health® approach, the training integrated safety and health promotion and was also informed by behavioral change theories. An iterative approach was used to develop and evaluate the training. A content review provided feedback on topics and organization of material. Safety and health experts assessed the revised training content and rated the training topics on clarity, accuracy, and completeness. Finally, a pilot study with employers and health and safety professionals was used to evaluate the training materials. The content review suggested ways to reorganize the material to improve flow and reduce redundancy. Ratings of clarity, accuracy, and completeness were high, ranging from 5 to 7 (mean ratings from 5.8 to 7.0) on a scale of 1 (“does not do this at all”) to 7 (“does this very well”). The pilot study led to changes in wording and items used to assess knowledge. A theoretically-informed approach was used to develop an online supervisor training to increase awareness and build skills. An iterative process that included expert review, evaluation of learning competencies, and a pilot study with the end-users is described.

KEYWORDS:

• Agriculture
• supervisor
• young worker
• intervention
• safety

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety for their assistance with video development.

Conflict of Interest Statement

Dr. Rohlman has a significant financial interest in Northwest Education Training and Assessment, LLC, a company that owns the platform used to develop the training (cTrain) and may have a commercial interest in the results of this research and technology. This potential conflict of interest was reviewed by the University of Iowa and an approved Conflict of Interest in Research management plan was implemented.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the National Children’s Center for Rural Agricultural Health and Safety through the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (U54 OH009568). We would like to thank Deb Erickson for help in the development of the materials.