LAUSR

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the fatal work injury rate is at 3.5 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers for all industries combined. In 2018, the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting sector had the highest rate (22.8/100,000) of fatal work injuries. To err is human, but to prevent by design is divine. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Prevention through Design (PtD) is the integrative effort to anticipate and design out hazards to workers in facilities, work methods and operations, processes, equipment, tools, products, new technologies, and the organization of work. The goal of the NIOSH PtD Initiative is to prevent or reduce work-related injuries, illnesses, and fatalities, by taking into account all aspects of design that impact the worker. At the 2019 Western Regional Agricultural Safety and Health Conference in Seattle, WA, a session was dedicated to the concept of Prevention through Design. Mr. Brad Husberg, Director, NIOSH Office of Agriculture Safety and Health, provided a brief overview of the NIOSH program in Prevention through Design. He discussed some examples of PtD in the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing sector: preventing amputations by using an auto e-stop device on fishing boats, and preventing death and injuries with built-in tractor roll-over protection. Subsequent presenters addressed how engineering controls were being implemented in agriculture, particularly in the fruit orchard farming industry, to reduce environmental and occupational risk factors. New pesticide application technologies