On Jan. 17, Professors Richard Fenske and Noah Seixas were official hosts for a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Town Hall meeting in Seattle, with a focus on the agricultural sector. More than 120 people attended and 51 speakers presented their ideas for research. Speakers came from as far as North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, and Texas.

NIOSH is holding a dozen Town Hall events across the nation to gather testimony for the second decade of the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA). The agenda will be further developed at a symposium April 18–20 in Washington, DC. The agency is accepting comments at http://www2a.cdc.gov/niosh-comments/nora-comments/input.asp.

“Just as a previous town hall meeting in Seattle 10 years ago was instrumental in the original development of NORA, this year’s meeting provided valuable input for shaping the next decade,” said NIOSH Director John Howard. “We appreciate the help of our local partners in planning and hosting the meeting, and we thank all of the participants and attendees for their support, insights and recommendations.”

Catherine Thomsen of Oregon Health Services urges research into the problems of young workers, Max Lum of NIOSH takes notes, and Matt Keifer and Rich Fenske of DEOHS discuss the day’s agenda.
Photo by Mary Levin.

The Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health center and the Northwest Center for Occupational Safety and Health, both housed in our department, helped plan and facilitate the meeting. A morning session, facilitated by Seixas, focused on regional occupational safety and health issues in general industry, while the afternoon session was specific to agriculture (farming, fishing, and forestry) and had a national scope.

Seixas identified several themes from the morning session: continued support for basic research; research into the needs of a changing workforce, which includes more short-term, temporary jobs and more older workers and immigrant labor; emerging research issues such as nanotechnologies, novel chemicals, and chemical mixtures; international health and safety issues; and research on health and safety training effectiveness, including organizational change.

In the afternoon session, Shari Kuther of the Progressive Agriculture Foundation, Sharon Hughes of the National Council of Agricultural Employers, Deliana Garcia of the Migrant Clinicians Network, and Mary Miller of the Washington Department of Labor and Industries discussed farm safety for youth and teens, while Robert Petrea of the University of Illinois talked about the problems of elderly farmers.

Four speakers urged research into pesticide exposures among farmworkers, while Mike Gempler of the Washington Growers League said too much emphasis was placed on pesticides, compared with hazards that affect more workers. “In addition to relevant basic research, our industry supports research that results in practical solutions, that brings the research to the field, if you will, and implements it,” he said.

John Garland, a professor and timber harvesting extension specialist at Oregon State University, is concerned about changes in the workforce. Loggers are aging faster than men in other occupations, and increases in the Hispanic workforce have created what he called “interesting” complications in language.

Jerry Dzugan, executive director of the Alaskan Marine Safety Education Association, was concerned that injuries are prevalent in fishing, but there isn’t a unified way of collecting statistics. He remembers a safety drill with six fishermen. “As I was debriefing the drill with them, I realized there wasn’t a complete set of fingers on that boat. You know, there should have been 60 fingers; there were only about 48.”

Looking back at the meeting, Fenske said, “This type of stakeholder process is critical to the creation of a new research agenda that is truly responsive to national needs.”

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