Agricultural Safety and Health Best Management Practices Manual

This project includes working with two audiences - youth and their parents. Both are found working on farms and are exposed to the same farm hazards. It is postulated that youth may influence their parents in reducing farm hazards. This project allows for an evaluation of this postulate.

Goal 1 of this project: To develop new or enhance existing control technologies is addressed in the development of and experimental evaluation of a youth oriented version of the Agricultural Safety and Health Best Management Practices (ASHBMP) Manual. A previous study, Adult ASHBMP Study, showed the original (Adult) ASHBMP Manual to be effective in reducing hazard levels when used by adult farmers. This study will investigate the use of the concept of a youth version of the ASHBMP Manual by 12 to 15 year old farm resident youth to reduce farm hazard levels. The research objectives for this developmental project are:

(1) determining the effect of the Adult and Youth ASHBMP Manuals and youth-parent interaction about safety topics in modifying safety behaviors on the farm;
(2) determining the effects of using the visually-oriented ASHBMP as a hazard audit tool for reducing hazards on farms;
(3) determining the relative effectiveness of youth use of the Adult ASHBMP Manual as compared to adults; and
(4) evaluating interrater reliability and internal consistency of the Adult and Youth ASHBMP Manuals as an auditing tool for use by youth.