Working hours, sleep, and fatigue in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector: A scoping review

INTRODUCTION

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry (AgFF) workers often work extremely long hours during peak production seasons, resulting in sleep deprivation and fatigue. The National Occupational Research Agenda has classified fatigue as a "significant safety issue" and area of concern for many industry sectors, including AgFF. This review explores current research and practice in AgFF and proposes next steps.

METHODS

We conducted a scoping literature review to examine the extent and nature of research in this area. Article inclusion criteria included peer-reviewed journal articles written in English; published after 1989; covering AgFF workers in high-income countries; with data on working hours/schedules and sleep related to safety and health.

RESULTS

Limited research has addressed long hours and sleep deprivation among AgFF workers. We identified 8350 articles for title and abstract review. Among those, 407 underwent full-text review and 96 met all inclusion criteria (67% agriculture, 25% fishing/seafood processing, 8% forestry). The literature provided some evidence fatigue contributes to fatalities, injuries, and illnesses in AgFF. Older, new, young, foreign-born, and female workers, as well as those who work in small organizations or longer hours (40+) may be at higher risk for fatigue-related injury and illness. Few studies have developed or evaluated interventions to control risks.

DISCUSSION

Given that fatigue is a factor in injury and illness for this sector, future AgFF surveillance and research should increase efforts to capture fatigue and sleep data, directly investigate the role of long hours and nonstandard work schedules in the sector, and most importantly, create practical interventions to manage fatigue.

It does not occur by chance: a mediation model of the influence of workers' characteristics, work environment factors, and near misses on agricultural machinery-related accidents

Agriculture is among the most hazardous productive sectors, and farm machinery is a major source of injury. In the present study, a mediated model was used to test the role played by workers' characteristics, work environment factors, and near misses in predicting agricultural machinery-related accidents in a sample of Italian users (n = 290). Hours worked per week (via the mediation of an adverse work environment) showed a positive association and years of work experience (via the mediation of risk perception) showed a negative association with the probability of being involved in a near miss, which in turn showed a positive association with the probability of being involved in a machinery-related accident. Implications for tailored preventive interventions are discussed.

Risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders among farm owners and farm workers: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

A systematic review was undertaken to establish risk factors for the development of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among farmers.

METHODS

Comprehensive electronic searches of Pubmed, Web of Science, CINAHL, SCOPUS, EMBASE, Agris Database, and Cochrane Library were carried out using a battery of key words for MSDs and farmers. The studies methods quality was assessed using a standardized checklist.

RESULTS

Thirty-three studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The median method score was 65% of the maximum attainable score, resulting in 15 studies of higher methodological. Risks were categorized into: Work characteristics (n = 11), personal characteristics (n = 5), and psychosocial factors (n = 5). Spinal MSD risk factors include exposure to working in tree crops, vibration, postural load, being an owner operator, age, education beyond high school, suffering from asthma or depression, having <8 hr nightly sleep, bad quality sleep, and geographic location. Upper extremity MSD risk factors include being an owner operator, dust with pig workers, numbness and coldness in younger milkers and numbness in milkers >43 years, age, and body height in dairy farmers. Lower extremity MSD risk factors include, duration of farming ≥10 years, working >5 hr daily in animal barns, milking >40 cows, years as a dairy farmer, farm work, age, body mass, and female gender.

CONCLUSIONS

In exploring risk factors the spine was the most researched body region, followed by lower and upper extremity. Given the variance between studies, it is recommended that future studies focus on specific types of farmers and should explore specific exposures for specific body parts using standardized case definitions.

What we are not talking about: an evaluation of prevention messaging in print media reporting on agricultural injuries and fatalities

BACKGROUND

Agricultural injury and fatality pose a significant burden on farmers, families, health care systems, and economies. One way of increasing knowledge of this problem and promoting prevention is the use of printed mass media such as newspapers.

METHODS

We conducted a scan of all media reports contained in the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA) archives for the period January, 2007 to September, 2009, inclusive, for injury and fatality and analyzed newspaper articles for prevention messages.

RESULTS

Of the 409 articles in the database, 392 met the inclusion criteria. Ninety-three of the articles (24%) contained a prevention message, and 39 (10%) of these were considered to be strong. Urban papers were two times more likely to have a safety message (OR = 2.03) while adult-related events were less likely to have a safety message included (OR = 0.49).

CONCLUSION

Print media reporting of agricultural injury and fatality represents a missed opportunity to provide a prevention message. More can be done to improve linkages between news media outlets and injury prevention specialists to improve prevention content in newsprint.

Safety knowledge, safety behaviors, depression, and injuries in Colorado farm residents

BACKGROUND

Changing safety behavior has been the target of injury prevention in the farming community for years but significant reductions in the number of farming injuries have not always followed. This study describes the relationships between safety knowledge, safety behavior, depression, and injuries using 3 years of self-reported data from a cohort of farm residents in Colorado.

METHODS

Farm operators and their spouses (n = 652) were recruited in 1993 from a farm truck registration list using stratified probability sampling. Respondents answered ten safety knowledge and ten safety behavior questions. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale was used to evaluate depression. The most severe farm work-related injury over a 3-year period was the outcome variable. Factor analysis was used to produce a single measure of safety knowledge for logistic regression models to evaluate the relationships between injuries, safety knowledge, and behaviors.

RESULTS

Safety knowledge was significantly associated with wearing personal protective equipment. None of the safety behaviors were significantly associated with injuries. In the presence of depression, low safety knowledge increased the probability of injury (OR 3.87, 95% CI 1.00-15.0) in models adjusted for age, sex, hours worked per week, and financial problems. Compared to those not depressed, those depressed with a low safety score showed significantly greater risk of injury than those depressed with a high score in adjusted models (OR 3.09, CI 1.31-7.29 vs. OR 0.86, CI 0.31-2.37).

CONCLUSIONS

Future work on injuries in the farming community should include measures of mood disorders and interactions with safety perceptions and knowledge.

Self-reported back pain among farm women in southeast Louisiana

This cross-sectional survey details the incidence and predictors of self-reported back pain among farm women from southeastern Louisiana. The sample was obtained from a preexisting data set of a cross-sectional randomized sample of farm women who participated in the Louisiana Farm Family Injury Prevention and Health Initiative research project. The Haddon Injury Model was used as the conceptual framework. Approximately one fourth of the women in the sample reported back pain in the past year. The major findings from logistic regression analysis were that women reported back pain if they were hauling animals to market and had physical health conditions. Implications for nursing practice include assessing the risk of back pain among farm women and providing client education that includes the importance of compliance with recommended health screenings for early detection and treatment of physical health conditions associated with back pain.