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 Dear Colleague:

As the Chair of the National Academies Committee to Review the NIOSH Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing (AFF) Research Program, I invite your input to our committee’s work. The committee’s charge is to evaluate the impact and relevance of NIOSH’s work in reducing workplace injury and illness and identify future directions NIOSH might take. The Committee to Review the NIOSH AFF Program is seeking input and advice from a variety of individuals and organizations that we believe are likely to have an interest in agriculture, forestry, and fishing safety and health and associated research. You have been identified as a potential source for such inputs and advice.

The committee’s charge is to examine the following issues for the NIOSH AFF Research Program:

  1. Progress in reducing workplace illness and injuries through occupational safety and health research, assessed on the basis of an analysis of relevant data about workplace illnesses and injuries and an evaluation of the effect that NIOSH research has had in reducing illness and injuries.

  2. Progress in targeting new research to the areas of occupational safety and health most relevant to future improvements in workplace protection.

  3. Significant emerging research areas that appear especially important in terms of their relevance to the mission of NIOSH.

 The committee will evaluate the AFF Safety and Health Research Program using an assessment framework developed by the NRC/IOM Committee to Review the NIOSH Research Programs. The evaluation will consider what the NIOSH program is producing as well as whether the program can reasonably be credited with changes in workplace practices, or whether such changes are the result of other factors unrelated to NIOSH. For cases where impact is difficult to measure directly, the committee reviewing the AFF Safety and Health Research Program may use information on intermediate outcomes to evaluate performance.
The NIOSH AFF Safety and Health Program provided the NRC evaluation committee with information on its work in five goal areas:
  1. Hazard surveillance – reduce hazards, illnesses, and injuries in the AFF workforce by conducting population-based and hazard surveillance;
  2. Priority Populations at Risk – reduce injuries, illnesses, and fatalities among subgroups of the working population determined to be at high risk or underserved by traditional occupational health approaches;
  3. Chemical Exposures – determined the chronic effects of agricultural exposures/health outcomes from toxic exposures and develop appropriate interventions to reduce the incidence of disease;
  4. Hazard Control Systems – reduce injuries and illnesses in AFF Program-related industries by developing and demonstrating control systems and making them available;
  5. Outreach – reduce injuries and illnesses by informing and educating employers and employees about occupational safety and health hazards and control systems.

 We would be very grateful for your comments on any or all of these areas. It would be valuable for the committee to know whether you are familiar with NIOSH activities and products related to agriculture, forestry, and fishing safety and health and what kind of experience you may have had working with the agency or its products. The committee would be particularly interested in comments you may have on the relevance and impact of NIOSH’s work in agriculture, forestry, and fishing safety and health over the past 10 years in any of the five areas of research it has defined.

In addition, we would value your views on two other matters included in the committee’s charge. First, what have you seen as the major research needs and challenges over the past 10 years in agriculture, forestry, and fishing safety and health? Second, what do you see as significant emerging research needs or opportunities concerning agriculture, forestry, and fishing safety and health?
The committee will review the comments it receives at its remaining meeting, which will be held on May 30-31, 2007. We encourage you to submit your comments in time for consideration at the May meeting. You are welcome to comment as an interested individual or from the perspective of your organization. In addition, please feel free to share this letter with other individuals or organizations with an interest in the AFF safety and health research program.
Please provide your comments through our National Academies staff, using any of a variety of routes: e-mail, mail, fax, telephone, or through our web-based comment form (see button below) where providing name and affiliation is optional. However, note that any written comments submitted to the committee (whether by mail, e-mail, fax, or the project’s comment form) will be included in the study’s public access file.

If you have any questions about contacting the committee or providing materials for the committee’s consideration, I encourage you to speak with our study director Peggy Tsai (202-334-3277). Contact details are provided at the end of this letter.
Thank you very much for any assistance you can provide to our study committee as we conduct our review of the NIOSH AFF Safety and Health Research Program.
Sincerely,

Paul Gunderson, Ph.D.
Chair, Committee to Review the NIOSH Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Safety and Health Research Program


Mail:
Peggy Tsai
 Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources
 500 Fifth Street, N.W.
 Washington, DC 20001

E-Mail: ptsai@nas.edu
 Telephone: 202-334-3277
Fax: 202-334-1978
Project Website: http://dels.nas.edu/banr/projects.php

The National Academies