Primary Presenter: Iris Anne Reyes, MPH, Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, National Farm Medicine Center.
Additional Authors: Yurany Ninco Sanchez, RN, Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, National Farm Medicine Center. Matthew Keifer, MD, MPH, Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, National Farm Medicine Center.
Learning Objective: Determine the knowledge level of dairy farmers and farm workers on occupational health and safety issues such as employee training and workers compensation.
Abstract: Large animal agriculture is a growing and hazardous industry. Dairy farms in Wisconsin are increasing in size with farmers employing immigrant workers who have limited agricultural experience. This project developed surveys to assess the knowledge of Wisconsin dairy farmers and their workers in occupational health and safety issues such farm injuries, employee training and workers compensation insurance. The surveys were part of a larger project that developed training curriculum for Spanish-speaking dairy employees to gauge the occupational health and safety understanding of farmers and their workers pre- and post-trainings.
Surveys were administered from 2012 to 2015 to over 50 farmers and 100 randomly-selected Spanish-speaking employees in medium to large-sized farms. Results from the farmer survey showed that over half of the labor on these farms consisted of Hispanic workers and that most farmers do not know their modification factors. The worker surveys showed that most Spanish-speaking workers have never had prior health and safety training and do not know if they have workers compensation insurance or what the term means.
A/V needed: LCD Projector/Laptop
Oral presentation, 30 minutes