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Facilitating Return to Work for Injured and Ill Animal Agriculture Workers

Facilitating Return to Work for Injured and Ill Animal Agriculture Workers

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  • Facilitating Return to Work for Injured and Ill Animal Agriculture Workers

  • Facilitating Return to Work for Injured and Ill Animal Agriculture Workers-image
  • Authors: Reyes IA, Bellendorf N, Meehan T, Wenger R, Kadolph C, Halstead S, Mahnke A, Weichelt B, Ray W, Keifer M.

    Journal of Agromedicine. Wisconsin. June 9, 2014

    ABSTRACT:
    Large animal production, like much of agriculture, is dangerous. Non-fatal injuries in pork and dairy production are commonplace and can often be serious, leading to restrictions. The cost of workplace injuries in dairy and pork is unknown but given the frequency of injury among agricultural workers, it is without doubt a substantial burden to these industries. As dairy and pork industries grow, producers hire more workers who face the risks inherent in the agricultural workplace and whose injuries are increasingly cared for by primary care clinicians. Yet, clinicians are often unfamiliar with the physical demands of farming, are poorly equipped to manage farm injuries and illnesses and have few resources to facilitate workers’ return to work. Producers have difficulty understanding and adapting the traditional return to work sheets in the context of farm tasks. All too often, the injured worker is declared unsuitable to return to work which results in loss of wages and productivity at home. This also results in increased workers’ compensation and a slowed operation that the employer must manage. This translational project will develop an interactive software application designed for clinicians to guide early return to work planning for injured workers in the dairy and pork industries. Concepts for developing transitional work plans commonly used in non-agricultural industries will be applied. A functional job analysis will be developed and will consist of hazards, loads and exposure risks, images and descriptions of tasks to guide clinicians in the planning of returning injured workers using alternative light duty job assemblies. This program will likely improve communication between employer, employee and clinician and enhance worker participation in the return to work decision making. It will also reduce workers’ compensation costs for the employer. More importantly, it will address an unmet need in agricultural health and safety, that of connecting the clinician to the farm to reduce disability and sustain an adequate, safe workforce for the growing agriculture industry.

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  • « Back to Database Search
  • Facilitating Return to Work for Injured and Ill Animal Agriculture Workers

  • Facilitating Return to Work for Injured and Ill Animal Agriculture Workers-image
  • Authors: Reyes IA, Bellendorf N, Meehan T, Wenger R, Kadolph C, Halstead S, Mahnke A, Weichelt B, Ray W, Keifer M.

    Journal of Agromedicine. Wisconsin. June 9, 2014

    ABSTRACT:
    Large animal production, like much of agriculture, is dangerous. Non-fatal injuries in pork and dairy production are commonplace and can often be serious, leading to restrictions. The cost of workplace injuries in dairy and pork is unknown but given the frequency of injury among agricultural workers, it is without doubt a substantial burden to these industries. As dairy and pork industries grow, producers hire more workers who face the risks inherent in the agricultural workplace and whose injuries are increasingly cared for by primary care clinicians. Yet, clinicians are often unfamiliar with the physical demands of farming, are poorly equipped to manage farm injuries and illnesses and have few resources to facilitate workers’ return to work. Producers have difficulty understanding and adapting the traditional return to work sheets in the context of farm tasks. All too often, the injured worker is declared unsuitable to return to work which results in loss of wages and productivity at home. This also results in increased workers’ compensation and a slowed operation that the employer must manage. This translational project will develop an interactive software application designed for clinicians to guide early return to work planning for injured workers in the dairy and pork industries. Concepts for developing transitional work plans commonly used in non-agricultural industries will be applied. A functional job analysis will be developed and will consist of hazards, loads and exposure risks, images and descriptions of tasks to guide clinicians in the planning of returning injured workers using alternative light duty job assemblies. This program will likely improve communication between employer, employee and clinician and enhance worker participation in the return to work decision making. It will also reduce workers’ compensation costs for the employer. More importantly, it will address an unmet need in agricultural health and safety, that of connecting the clinician to the farm to reduce disability and sustain an adequate, safe workforce for the growing agriculture industry.

    READ ARTICLE