Poor working conditions for hired farm workers have been a persistent problem in the U.S., but they haven't received sufficient attention, according to a recent NIOSH report. About 2.5 million people perform hired agricultural work in the U.S. The ag industry has the second-highest rate of occupational fatalities in the country, according to government data.
Now a new NIOSH publication, "New Directions in the Surveillance of Hired Farm Worker Health and Occupational Safety," has identified ten occupational health priorities and ranked them in order of their importance: