In 1990, the North Dakota State Department of Health and Consolidated Laboratories (NDSDHCL) was one of ten states awarded a five-year grant from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to initiate a surveillance program to identify injuries and illnesses affecting agricultural workers in North Dakota. Five agricultural occupational health nurses are responsible for conducting surveillance in a defined geographical area. The surveillance program is based on voluntary reporting by health care providers in clinics and hospitals throughout the state. An initial reporting form is used to provide preliminary information regarding injuries and illnesses; follow-up is conducted to obtain more complete information. Alternative reporting mechanisms are utilized at the request of the health care provider. The information obtained from the surveillance program is used to develop intervention and educational programs for prevention of identified problems.
This presentation will include a discussion of the surveillance program including a brief overview of the epidemiology of agricultural-related injuries and illnesses in North Dakota.
This research abstract was extracted from a portion of the proceedings of "Agricultural Safety and Health: Detection, Prevention and Intervention," a conference presented by the Ohio State University and the Ohio Department of Health, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control/National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
The authors noted above are from: The North Dakota State Dept. of Health and Consolidated Labs, Bismarck, ND respectively.
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