Agricultural health and safety

Organophosphate (OP) pesticides are extensively used to support agricultural practices in Washington State. OP exposure is associated with both asthmatic populations and agricultural communities. The objective of this thesis is to investigate the correlation between OP pesticide exposure in agricultural community, with respiratory health outcomes, associated with asthma.

Intro: Understanding how indoor environments can not only affect but also shape human health is a new area of emerging research. Considering that we spend a large portion of our daily lives indoors, dust is a major complex environmental mixture we are exposed to every day.

Introduction: The expansion of the U.S. cannabis industry has created thousands of new jobs in cultivation, processing and distribution. While little is known about occupational hazards in the Cannabis industry, pilot studies suggest an increased risk of respiratory exposures and associated adverse health outcomes, including immunologic sensitization to Cannabis.

The Washington State Department of Health investigates hundreds of pesticide illness reports each year, many of which are related to pesticide spray drift. Drift is the movement of pesticide aerosols through the air from an area of application to any unintended site and accounts for up to half of the pesticide-related illnesses among agricultural workers in the United States.

Background: Adverse health effects of extreme heat in occupational settings are substantial, particularly among outdoor workers who perform physical labor. Core body temperature (CT) is a critical indicator of heat strain. Excessive increase in CT negatively affects physical and cognitive performance and can lead to heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

Background: Efficacy-driven assessments of culturally and linguistically appropriate occupational health and safety training (OHS) for workers who speak English as a second language remain uncommon. This study analyzes predictors of performance on a dairy safety knowledge test using pre-and-post knowledge assessments.

Background: Many studies have linked childhood farm exposures to a protective effect against allergy and asthma. Although continued exposure in adulthood may maintain this effect, little work has been done looking specifically at adult occupational exposures.

No study has been undertaken in Washington state to determine if there is an association between agricultural fairs and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infections, despite a fair-associated outbreak in 2015 that sickened 60 people.

In this paper, we describe the way in which socioeconomic factors (i.e. language, socioeconomic status, and education), climate change, and the migration patterns of US farmworker populations affect health care utilization across the nation, specifically in Washington State.

The University of Washington Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences Continuing Education Programs is designing a new online course titled “Agricultural Workers and Zoonotic Diseases: One Health Approach to Infection Prevention and Control on the Farm.” The course is in collaboration with UW Center for One Health Research and the UW Medicine, Division of Allergy and

Background: Heat-related injury (HRI) remains a significant public health concern in heat exposed outdoor occupational groups and especially in agricultural workers like tree fruit harvesters.

Background: Studies have reported that agricultural workers have elevated rates of respiratory health issues; however, the literature on respiratory function in dairy workers is limited and contradictory. Dairy work involves more exposure to dust and gases when compared to other occupations.

Anthropogenic climate change is expected to influence pest dynamics and pesticide application timing and rate, but little research has attempted to quantify the relationship or associated health impacts. Changing pesticide applications will impact risk of human exposure, particularly in agricultural communities.