Working Conditions and Urinalysis Dipstick Testing among Female Rice Farmers: A Preliminary Cross-Sectional Study

Farm operations and slips, trips, and falls among corn farm workers in Thailand

Slips, trips, and falls (STFs) represent a main source of injury among farm workers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between farm operations and STFs among corn farm workers. We conducted a cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire among corn farm workers in Nan and Saraburi provinces, Thailand from July 5 to 23, 2022. Poisson regression analysis was used. Among 338 participants, 122 (36.1%) had experienced an STF in the previous 6 months. Conducting very frequent, frequent, or occasional pest management was associated with a higher incidence rate ratio (IRR) of STFs than never or rarely pest management (adjusted IRR 1.93, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.23 to 3.04, p=0.004). People with marginal or unsatisfactory work break lengths had a higher incidence rate of STFs than those with satisfactory work breaks (adjusted IRR 1.40, 95% CI=1.03 to 1.89, p=0.030). We found that corn farm workers in our study often experienced STFs, which was associated with a high frequency of pest management practices and inadequate work breaks. Reducing the physical burden of pest management may be effective as an STF prevention strategy.

Occupational safety and health in the agricultural sector: a bibliographic review

In the labor context the agricultural sector has been a little neglected in terms of the implementation of policies and standards that allow maintaining low accident rates, and in the last year strategies have been established to improve this situation. The aim of this study was to conduct a bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature on the methodologies used to plan, verify, and maintain occupational safety and health in the agricultural sector. The methodology focused on the search for information in the Scopus and Web of Science databases through a search equation, and then through inclusion and exclusion criteria to evaluate the selected articles. It was found that the country with most studies on occupational safety and health was the United States, and that methodologies such as social participation, videos, and team learning are among the most successful processes. The year of publication with the largest amount of research published was 2021, the survey approach appears in 82% of the articles, the use of technology as a means of dissemination of improvement actions was evidenced, and the most innovative processes included: use of religion, checklists, fear, threats, and work organization processes.

Where do you live and what do you do? Two questions that might impact your kidney health

In many cases the social determinants of health need to be assessed through their interaction with environmental factors. This review looks at the impact of physical location and occupation of individuals on their kidney health. It examines the effect of living at high altitude on kidney function and the relationship between extreme cold or hot temperatures and the incidence of kidney injury. It reviews as well the many occupations that have been linked to kidney disease in high-income and low-and-middle-income countries. As a conclusion, this overview proposes preventive recommendations that could be individualized based on weather, altitude, socio-economic level of the country and occupation of the individual.