The National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety is celebrating 25 years of preventing injuries associated with the agricultural worksite, which is one of the nation's most hazardous places to work.
"We are excited to be celebrating this milestone, and we have a number of ways that people can get involved," said Marsha Salzwedel Ed.D., youth agricultural safety specialist with the NCC, which is part of the Marshfield Clinic's National Farm Medicine Center.
The children's program was established in 1997 with funding from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health--one of 11 NIOSH-funded Agricultural Centers, and the only dedicated to childhood agricultural injury prevention.
Among early Children's Center interventions was the development of guidelines for parents to match farm chores with their child's developmental and physical capabilities. Follow-up data demonstrated a 56 percent decline in youth farm injury rates from 1998 to 2009, which ranked among Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report's Ten Great Public Health Achievements 2001-2010.
Categories: Wisconsin, General