Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

USDA-CSREES developed a Shared Faculty position to help promote the National Land Grant Research and Extension Agenda for Agricultural Safety and Health: National Agenda for Action document. The Shared Faculty positions primary responsibility to CSREES was to provide leadership for developing awareness, refinement, and multi-organizational support for the recently developed national agenda document. The new NCERA 197 committee reviewed the 12 priorities contained in the national agenda document and considered several options for effectively promoting and addressing the 12 priorities. The committee chose to develop a white paper on Agricultural Equipment on Public Roads. This white paper would have multiple purposes: a) to help identify research, policy and extension/outreach priorities for the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Transportation, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, state departments of agriculture, transportation and law enforcement, county government, and production agriculture based organizations; and b) to identify possible design and practice standards, goals, or guidelines for farm equipment manufacturers, standard setting organizations, and government agencies. It was decided on to focus on seven major issues related to agricultural equipment on public roads. These were: 1. Transportation environment  load limits, road deterioration, slow moving vehicles on rural roads, railroad crossings, school bus stops, accidents due to these conflicts. 2. Horse drawn vehicles. 3. High speed tractors  equipment that is being pulled above legal limits with poor tires, no brakes, no anti-swap hitches. 4. Lighting and marking of pulled equipment. 5. Licensing of drivers - lack of CDL licenses for drivers of farm vehicles and their lack of training. 6. Transportation of workers  i.e., Amish workers in chairs in the back of trailers with no restraints anywhere. 7. Rural/urban interface. For each major section of the White Paper, it was decided that two questions would be asked and addressed: 1) Problems identified by us, and 2) What do we know about these problems? The original seven issues were eventually reorganized and combined into: 1. An Introduction 2. The Rural / Urban Traffic Interface 3. Federal and State Regulations 4. Higher Speed Tractors 5. Transportation of Workers on Public Roadways with Farm Equipment 6. Suggestions for the Future (in the areas of Research, Engineering Standards, Education, Policy) It was decided that the White Paper should exist only as a .pdf document on websites. Several national and state websites were identified and were approached. In addition, news releases were developed and several organizations were identified through which the White Paper could be presented and promoted. A second high priority topic chosen to be addressed by NCERA 197 is agricultural confined spaces. Based upon activities related to the development of the original NCERA-197 research and extension agenda, it was determined that there existed significant research gaps with respect to needed engineering, educational, and legislative controls designed to reduce the frequency and severity of confined spaces-related incidents in agricultural workplaces. Based upon available data, much of which is incomplete, over 700 cases of fatal and partial entrapment have been documented over the past 30 years in grain storage and handling facilities and over 100 fatal and non-fatal incidents have been documented in livestock waste handling and storage operations. In addition, fatalities have been documented in other forms of confined spaces including silos, chemical storage tanks, transport vehicles, fermentation tanks and bulk milk tanks. It is estimated that 25-40 confined spaces-related fatalities occur annually in agricultural operations, including off-farm processing and storage sites. In addition to agricultural confined spaces, the committee identified the next high priority topic from the National Agenda for Action document. It was decided that the topic would be small-scale farmers, including those called lifestyle farmers, new and beginning farmers etc. The areas to be covered by this topic would be priorities 9, 11, and 12 from the Agenda for Action: (9. Capital and management vs. family labor intensive operations; 11. Agricultural safety education and training; and 12. Special populations and enterprises). Another topic the committee decided to work on in the immediate future was to increase infrastructure support for agricultural safety and health within the land grant system. The first action to be taken was a decision to develop a Community of Practice (CoP) for farm safety. Representatives of eXtension gave a presentation about forming a CoP and grant opportunities to help support a CoP.

A previous committee, NCR 197, produced the landmark publication in 2003 titled, National Land Grant Research and Extension Agenda for Agricultural Safety and Health: National Agenda for Action. This committee established 12 safety and health priorities for action. The national agenda document was produced near the end of the NCR 197 project period. The current committee, NCERA 197, proposed to continue the work of the NCR 197 committee by promoting the national agenda. Accomplishments include developing posters and a PowerPoint presentation for use at national and international conferences to publicize and promote the contents of the National Land Grant Research and Extension Agenda for Agricultural Safety and Health. A pamphlet titled, Investing in the Future, which served as an executive summary of the national agenda document, was also produced. Presentations on the national agenda priorities were made to/at the following groups and events: American Society for Engineering Education Engineering Research Council Conference; American Society of Safety Engineers Annual Conference; Western Region CSREES and NIOSH Agriculture Centers meeting; NASULGC Administrators; and Council for Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching Executive Committee. The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology include a statement about national agenda in their newsletter. The National Agenda was included as background in presentation to proposed U.S. Coalition for Farm Safety; b) A presentation on the national agenda was made to a University of Iowa School of Public health graduate class; c) National agenda priorities were presented to National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (AgFF) Sector Council as part of overview of agricultural safety and health. NASULGC Administrators sent emails to experiment station directors encouraging agricultural safety and health to be included as a topic at their annual conference After further review of the 12 priorities, the NCERA 197 committee selected Agricultural Equipment on Public Roads as a priority topic to be addressed by the committee. The safe operation of agricultural equipment on public roads was included in two new curriculums designed to meet training and certification requirements for the U.S. Department of Labors Agricultural Hazardous Occupations Orders (Ag HOs). Purdue University produced a CD titled Sharing the Road that addresses many of the specific concerns the committee has for operating agricultural equipment on public roads. The committee decided to address the agricultural equipment on public roads topic through a White Paper. The topic was divided into seven sections, subcommittee chairs were appointed and additional subcommittee members were recruited. An initial draft of the white paper was presented at a Professional Development Workshop conducted at the June 2008 annual conference of the National Institute for Farm Safety. Feedback and input were gained from approximately 35 workshop participants. Subsequent drafts were developed, reviewed and revised by the NCERA 197 committee and section subcommittees. The final document, Agricultural Equipment on Public Roads, was released to the public as a .pdf document by Penn State University on February 25 and by USDA-CSREES on February 27, 2008. The Agricultural Equipment on Public Roadways document has received extensive national exposure on public web sites and through the national and state media. A .pdf of the white paper document is located on the following public web sites: " http://www.csrees.usda.gov/about/white_papers/pdfs/ag_equipment.pdf " http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/aginjury/ " http://lgu.umd.edu/lgu_v2/homepages/home.cfm?trackID=6763 " http://www.nasdonline.org/docs/d001901-d002000/d001906/d001906.html " http://www.agsafety.psu.edu/pdfs/Ag%20Equip%20on%20Public%20Roads.pdf " http://asae.frymulti.com/azdez.asp?JID=5&AID=26903&CID=reno2009&T=2 National and state news releases included: " Penn State Ag Sciences Newswire: Guidance for Agricultural Equipment on Public Roads. March 2, 2009 " USDA-CSREES: CSREES North Central Region Multi-state Committee Releases White Paper on Operating Agricultural Equipment on Public Roads. February 26, 2009 " Iowa State University, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Experts Seek Improved Farm Equipment Safety on Public Roads. April 23, 2009. " NIOSH eNews. Traffic Hazards of Moving Ag Equipment on Rural Roadways. Volume 6, No. 12, April 2009. " CropLife News. Experts Seek Improved Ag Equipment Safety On Public Roads. April 28, 2009. Radio Interviews: " Chuck Schwab, Iowa State University, 25 minute interview Magazines: " New USDA report focuses on road way safety. Successful Farming, May-June, 2009. p 57. " Federal Guidance Needed for Agricultural Equipment on Public Roads. Professional Safety, May, 2009, p. 17. PowerPoint Presentations: " Farm Equipment/Motor Vehicle Crash Prevention, Des Moines, IA, March 17-18, 2009. Hosted by Midwest Rural Agricultural Safety & Health (MRASH) Forums, Great Plains Center for Agricultural Safety and Health, University of Iowa. PowerPoint presentation located at: http://www.agsafetyandhealthnet.org/Presentations.htm " American Society of Agricultural & Biological Engineers, Reno, NV, June 21-24, 2009. Operating Agricultural Equipment of Public Roads. National Institute for Farm Safety Annual Meeting and Professional Development Conference, New Orleans, LA. " ASABE Agricultural Equipment Technology Conference (AETC), Orlando, FL, January 11, 2010. Journals/Editorials: " Bringing you up to speed on sharing the road. Carol J. Lehtola, PhD, JASH, 15(4): 309-310. Editorial. Committee members selected Agricultural Confined Spaces as the next priority topic the committee should address. This was priority #3 in the National Land Grant Research and Extension Agenda for Agricultural Safety & Health. A proposal for a new NCERA 197 project was written and approved by the North Central Administrative Committee.

1. Committee on Agricultural Safety and Health Research and Extension. 2005. National Land Grant Research and Extension Agenda for Agricultural Safety and Health. Pamphlet. USDA-CSREES, Washington DC. May. 2. Committee on Agricultural Safety and Health Research and Extension. 2006. Investing in the Future. USDA-CSREES, Washington DC. April. 3. Committee on Agricultural Safety and Health Research and Extension. 2008. Development of a Multistate Research and Extension Plan for Agricultural Safety and Health  USDA CSREES NCR 197. Presented at the National Institute for Farm Safety Annual Conference, Lancaster, PA, June 22-26, (Abstract 13) and American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, June 29-July 2, Providence, RI, (Abstract 112-76). Poster. 4. Committee on Agricultural Safety and Health Research and Extension. 2008. Current Research, Outreach and Standards in Agricultural Safety and Health related to Agricultural Equipment on Public Roads. Presented at the National Institute for Farm Safety Annual Conference, Lancaster, PA, June 22-26 (Abstract 14), and American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, June 29-July 2, Providence, RI (Abstract 112-77). Poster. 5. Committee on Agricultural Safety and Health Research and Extension. 2008. Key Issues and Actions to be Addressed Related to Agricultural Equipment on Public Roads - Recommendations from the NCERA 197 Committee. Presented at the National Institute for Farm Safety Annual Conference, Lancaster, PA, June 22-26 (Abstract 15), and American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, June 29-July 2, Providence, RI (Abstract 112-78). Poster.