Agricultural Professionals’ Perceptions of COVID-19 and Occupational Health and Safety

Abstract

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought tremendous challenges to citizens and industries worldwide. The present study contributed to efforts underway toward developing alternatives to combat COVID-19 in the agricultural industry, including the farm and forestry sectors. The study utilized qualitative interviews to assess the perceptions of agricultural stakeholders in the Southeastern United States on the impact of the pandemic to occupational health and safety and the likelihood of implementation of safety guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Eleven individuals, purposefully selected, were interviewed. The results suggested that despite its challenging aspects, the pandemic offers an array of opportunities to the industry to revamp operations and adjust approaches. The challenges related more to the uncertainties due to the unfolding elements of the pandemic. Transportation, housing, and culture were the top three barriers identified to implementing CDC guidelines. These barriers depend on the size of the companies, the types of operations, and the amount of required labor. Agricultural stakeholders' positive behavior, the availability of incentives, and the use of innovation, including technology, were revealed to be the three main supportive factors relating to the execution of the CDC guidelines. These results could evolve as the pandemic continues to unfold. Therefore, we suggest that continuing assessments be conducted to capture shifting perceptions and attitudes as they change to reflect updated information. Further investigations about the side effects of mask-wearing on heat-related illnesses were also advised to explore in terms of guidelines for agricultural workers. Keywords: COVID-19; agriculture; health; safety; guidelines

Agricultural Stakeholders’ Perceptions of Occupational Health and Safety in the Southeastern U.S. Coastal States

“…These issues have been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As noted by Irani et al [ 28 ] (pp. 77–78), “workers’ financial insecurity sometimes pushed them to prioritize work over their health.…”

“…We combined all the interview transcripts into one dataset that was shared with the research team for familiarization and data cleaning. Second, guided by the research questions, two team members conducted parallel coding to increase internal validity [ 20 , 26 , 27 ] and to cast a wider analytic net and provide a “crowd-sourcing reality check” for each other according to Harding, as reported by Irani et al [ 28 ] (p. 72). Using color coding and data constant comparisons, each coder developed their initial codes with eventual supporting quotes to enhance the efficiency of the process once the coding process was finalized.…”

Prevalence and factors associated with depression, anxiety and stress symptoms among construction workers in Nepal

“…In Nepal, the causes for occupational hazards includes precarious working environment; crowded workplace; lack of supervision, monitoring, and training; close monitoring system negligence; workers' and employers' ignorance and recklessness; use of old or out-of-date machine or equipment; absence of adequate routine maintenance of tools, machine, and equipment; lack of standard safety equipment; breach of safety rules and unsuitable conditions [6]. Similarly, there is no incentive or disincentive to provide occupational health diagnosis and treatment facilities in the industries or to install safe and healthy equipment to replace worn-out and unsafe machinery, which causes stakeholders' reluctance [6,7]. This causes distress for workers as they have to work in such conditions.…”

Agricultural Stakeholders’ Perceptions of Occupational Health and Safety in the Southeastern US Coastal States

“…Despite efforts to address the high levels of occupationrelated illness and injury through regulatory and educational efforts as well as training programs, these issues continue to exact an elevated cost to human health and economic productivity worldwide. These outcomes have been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, because many of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines have been difficult to implement among agricultural workers (Irani et al, 2020).…”