Our project goal is to improve the occupational health and safety of Minnesota’s growing immigrant dairy workforce. This will involve incorporation of a One Health approach, employing a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, veterinarians, producers, workers and community health centers. …

Occupational injury in animal agriculture not only affects the health and well-being of workers, but is a significant burden to the agriculture industry due to lost productivity and compensation costs. The safety environment of the workplace is complex in animal agriculture and the health and well-being of the animals must also be considered. There is significant interest in reducing the burden of injury, however the tools available for specific injury prevention activities are limited. The long-term objective of this research is to provide injury prevention tools for producers, managers, and safety professionals to prevent and control injuries in animal agriculture. …

Previous work by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), through UMASH, has demonstrated that occupational zoonotic infections associated with animal agriculture comprise a much larger disease burden than previously estimated. The objective of the current project is to reduce the occurrence of zoonotic diseases related to occupational exposures among agricultural workers, their families, and others exposed to animal agriculture settings. …

The importance of the human-animal interface as a source of emerging infectious diseases is universally recognized. People having regular animal contact are at the front line for exposure to known and emerging pathogens, and veterinarians provide a unique window into occupational risks for emerging zoonotic diseases. …

The overall goal of this line of intervention research is to improve the access of farms to capable health and safety consultation in order to reduce farm hazards and improve farm safety. The Rural Firefighters Delivering Agricultural Safety and Health (RFDASH) project will leverage the esteemed and influential position held by rural fire departments and test the benefit of expanding their repertoire to farm specific first aid and farm safety advice and consultation. …

Those working in animal agriculture are at risk of airborne exposure to infectious viruses, such as zoonotic influenza viruses. Conventional wisdom suggests that most transmission of infectious viruses occurs by droplet transmission. However, recent research indicates that at least some viruses can be transmitted by the airborne route. …

The goal of this project is to develop a functional, multidisciplinary Network to address occupational health and safety issues among livestock workers. This broad, cross-disciplinary Network will build on the group’s diversity of skills, experiences, and knowledge in order to translate research, deliver education, and act as a surveillance stream for emerging occupational health and safety concerns in livestock production. …

The Return to Work project will create a mechanism to bring the realities of work on the farm to the clinic in a way that the clinician can review, understand and develop a transitional plan that will safely and promptly return the worker to the workplace. …

Dates: 2012 – current Our project aims to work on the following things: Identify the most important zoonotic diseases found in agricultural populations in Minnesota; Starting in 2012, determine how frequently agricultural workers are getting sick with these diseases every year; Study any new diseases that may be related to agriculture settings; …

This surveillance project focuses on injuries and illnesses in Wisconsin dairy farmers and workers, with particular emphasis on changes in the dairy industry and the effect these changes have on injury and illness patterns. The goal is to establish an active surveillance process using a recurring survey in order to inform policy and guide interventions designed to reduce the overall burden of injury and illness on this population. …