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SPOTLIGHT: A Solution to the Silent but Deadly Farm Gases

There are many stories. Stories of farmers with chronic illnesses. Stories of middle aged ag-workers suffering from respiratory issues. Stories of farm families losing their lives to hydrogen sulfide toxins. According to Agrisafe Network Clinical Director Carolyn Sheridan, these stories are happening everywhere and far too often. …

SPOTLIGHT: A Collaborative Effort to Advocate for Safety and Health on Farms

In August 2017, UMASH, the Great Plains Center for Agriculture Health (GPCAH), and the Center States Center for Agriculture Safety and Health (CS-CASH), collaborated at Farm Fest to foster conversations about potential health and safety risks and promote the resources that have come from all three centers. …

SPOTLIGHT: Agritourism

Keeping Your Visitors Happy and Healthy. Agritourism is an opportunity for farms to allow guests onto the premises to enjoy some kind of agriculture experience. Although agritourism events serve as wonderful learning experiences, the interaction between animals and humans can cause disease outbreaks. …

SPOTLIGHT: Ag Teachers Go Back to Class

Megan Roberts, Assistant Extension Professor for the University of Minnesota, lead a pilot project to develop a curriculum for agriculture educators that focused on occupational health and safety. …

SPOTLIGHT: Firefighters Could be Key to Farm Safety

Rural firefighters are farmers’ neighbors, friends, family, or are farmers in their own right. They are a highly trainable and trusted workforce. Moreover, they are in every rural county in the U.S. and will always outnumber agricultural health and safety experts – unless they become experts themselves. …

SPOTLIGHT: Roadway Safety

It is important to take special precautions on the roadways during planting and harvesting season—whether you are a farmer or driver of a motor vehicle. In the Midwest region of the United States, more than 1,000 farm vehicle crashes occur each year and cause severe and fatal injuries. Most crashes (75%) result in an injury, usually with increased risk to the non-farm vehicle operator (such as a motor vehicle driver) compared to the farmer. The Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health recently conducted a study reporting that wider roads (wider shoulder width, for example) and increased lighting and marking on farm equipment are both associated with reduced roadway crash rates. …

SPOTLIGHT: 2017 NORA Symposium

On May 5th, the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) Symposium targeted the opioid crisis for its annual outreach event. The symposium focused on raising awareness, providing continuing education, and sharing research about the opioid crisis in occupational and agricultural health. …

SPOTLIGHT: Rollover Protection

The occupational death rate on farms is nearly 800 percent greater than in all other industries combined. The leading cause of farm deaths is tractor rollovers. …

SPOTLIGHT: CAHFS Daily News

The Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center (UMASH) is pleased to announce the addition of an agricultural worker health and safety bi-weekly news segment to the CAHFS Daily News - a food safety news feed sponsored by the University of Minnesota Center for Animal Health and Food Safety (CAHFS). …