Pregnancy and fertility are often not considered when women assume farm tasks. Pesticide and other chemical exposures, zoonotic diseases and heavy lifting particularly during childbearing years, present challenges.
People who work outdoors are more likely to become dehydrated and experience heat-related illness or heat stress. Although illness from exposure to heat is preventable, thousands become sick from occupational heat exposure every year, and some cases are fatal. Agriculture is an industry where workers have suffered heat-related illnesses. Specific groups within the agricultural community, including pregnant women, older workers, and young children, could have elevated risks related to prolonged heat and humidity exposure. However, with proper information and preventative action, heat-related illness can be avoided for all populations in the agricultural community.
This presentation will highlight basic precautions to prevent possible diseases and injuries during and after flooding. Floodwater can be contaminated by pollutants including sewage, human and animal feces, pesticides and insecticides, fertilizers, oil, asbestos, rusting building materials, and others.
Wildfires have become a persistent health threat for people working in agriculture. This webinar will focus on understanding the risks of exposure to wildfire smoke and potential strategies for responding to protect human health. Best practices for protecting worker health will be shared based on California’s requirements along with resources for talking with agricultural workers about wildfire exposure risks.
In this webinar, participants will be introduced to The ¡Basta! Prevent Sexual Harassment in Agriculture training, toolkit, and video. The ¡Basta! training uses an evidence-based, community engaged approach to help employees, HR staff, and growers prevent and address sexual harassment in the agricultural workplace.
Zoonotic Diseases are transmitted between farm animals and humans and can pose additional risks to those who are pregnant. Farmers and farmworkers have higher levels of risk for contracting zoonotic diseases because of the frequency of their exposure to animals. Prevention is the best defense. Women working in agriculture should be aware of the following special considerations during pregnancy, which animals are common carriers of zoonotic disease, symptoms of the disease(s), prevention measures, and pregnancy risks.