A Scoping Review of Safety and Health Interventions in the High-Risk Dairy Industry: Gaps in Evidence Point to Future Directions in Research.

The occupational injury rate of the dairy industry (6.6 per 100 full-time workers) is twice that of the national average across all industries (3.3 per 100 full-time workers). While dairy farms are becoming larger in size and fewer in number, this rate has not changed. A scoping review was conducted to identify published reports of occupational safety interventions in the dairy industry. An additional criterion was that the study included an evaluation of the intervention. Out of 22 articles that met the first criterion (discussion of interventions specific to the dairy industry), 19 met the second of having an evaluative component. These 19 articles corresponded to 16 unique studies, because 4 articles corresponded to the same study. Of the 16 unique studies, only 3 had a comparison of treatment vs. control effects, and none measured the impact of the intervention on injuries and fatalities. Of the 16 interventions, 6 were focused on training or informational campaigns in which the evaluations primarily measured knowledge acquisition. Additionally, none of these studies had a sufficient sample size to compare injury rates as an outcome. Our study demonstrates that the literature lacks any rigorous evaluation of whether dairy safety interventions are making an impact on injury prevention. Given this, it is not possible to determine how work-related injuries and deaths can be prevented in the dairy industry. Recommendations for future research include incorporating rigorous evaluation into research designs and attempting to develop low-cost, unobtrusive methods for collecting data on intermediate and final outcomes.

Assisting New York Dairy Farms with Preparing for OSHA Safety Inspections.

In 2013, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced a Local Emphasis Program targeted at New York farmers. This program involved random inspections of dairy farms across the state. This article provides an overview of the efforts made in New York to prepare farmers for these inspections. As a result of this program launch, several safety services offered by the New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health were significantly impacted, and required expansion and modification in order to meet the needs of New York farmers.

Development and Evaluation of a Basic First Aid Curriculum for Spanish-Speaking Dairy Workers.

. Over the past decade, the New York State dairy industry has grown substantially, resulting in an increase in immigrant workers who speak languages other than English. Estimates suggest that over 50% of workers on large New York dairies are Spanish-speaking individuals who immigrated to the U.S. from Guatemala, Mexico, and other Latin American countries. With a growing population of Spanish-speaking workers, safety concerns on farms have become a prominent issue. This article reviews the development and evaluation of a basic dairy first aid curriculum, which is intended to educate Spanish-speaking immigrant dairy workers on emergency response and first aid. The materials developed are culturally relevant and can be easily understood by low-literacy, non-English-speaking workers. In evaluation of the materials using pre- and post-testing, a significant knowledge gain was identified in workers who participated in the training.