Last updated on May 23rd, 2022 at 07:32 am
AgriSafe offers Invest in Your Health Trainer Exchange where educators can be certified to train on six AgriSafe modules (targeted for ages 14-23). AgriSafe provides the course instruction and training materials. Under our open share platform, once certified, educators would be free to use the training materials in their classroom setting. Our end goal is to build the capacity of local agricultural educators, rural health professionals and rural leaders to train young workers.
Currently, AgriSafe offers six training modules:
- Say What? Protecting your Hearing: The young producer works in an environment with noise hazards and plays in an environment with noise hazards. Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is common (and preventable) but unfortunately, use of hearing protection among youth is not.
- Cover Up! Head to Toe Personal Protective Equipment: Injuries can be prevented if we use the right protective equipment for the job. This program will present an overview of common exposures in farming and ranching. Students can discuss those exposures and determine the appropriate protective gear for each scenario. In addition, two cases studies presenting common multiple exposures that young people experience are included for discussion.
- Stay Cool! Prevention of Heat Related Illness: Heat-related illness occurs when the body’s temperature gets too high and the body’s ability to dissipate heat through sweating and other methods is overcome. In this session, students will learn how to identify heat related illnesses and immediate care procedures.
- Stop Zoonosis in its Tracks- Prevention of Zoonosis: Agricultural producers are at high risk for acquiring a zoonotic disease related to their work environment with minimal information related to risks, symptoms and prevention. The majority of emerging infectious diseases in the U.S. are zoonotic in nature. They are often difficult to determine and many go unreported for a variety of reasons.
- Where Y’at-Using Mapping to Define Hazards in Agriculture: Participants will learn about the Hazard Mapping curriculum and will be given access to all teacher and student materials after completing the webinar. A Hazard Map is a visual representation of the workplace where there are hazards that could cause injuries or illness. The Hazard Mapping method draws on what students know from their farming experience. The Hazard Mapping approach works best when conducted among a small group of students with some similarity in their work and exposures.
- Cultivating a Healthy Mind- Mental Wellness for Youth: This module opens an introductory discussion of mental health among teens and young adults with guidance from an adult educator. Focus is placed on decreasing stigma, improving mental health literacy, and positive coping skills for teens and young adults. The module showcases a high school agricultural student’s understanding of the agricultural mental health crisis, helping to frame mental health distress to academic and future career success.
Utilizing an open share curriculum model, AgriSafe is expanding access to ag safety and health curriculum to a wide variety of health and safety instructors including parents, teachers and employers. This curriculum built with a classroom audience in mind, has been utilized in a variety of ways to train youth and new employees in agriculture alike.
