Review of Occupational Health and Safety Interventions and Research Tailored to Vulnerable Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Workers

To assess evaluated agricultural, forestry, and fishing (AFF) interventions targeting vulnerable populations, a thorough review of AFF interventions published via white and grey literature was performed during 2000-2014. A formalized web-based search was conducted, and intervention evaluations meeting the search criteria were ranked for effectiveness, generalizability, applicability, and impact. Of 348 potential sources, thirty-five intervention evaluations were assessed. All intervention evaluations targeted the agricultural industry. Most interventions targeted youth (36%), migrant (28%), and/or English as a Second Language (26%) workers, and the majority utilized education (50%) and/or training (40%) intervention types. Only 12% used randomized controlled trials for evaluation. Sixty-three percent (120) of grey source materials were developed for the agricultural industry, while 29% (56) and 2% (4) targeted the forestry and fishing industries, respectively. Despite efforts, few scientific evaluations of interventions have been conducted for vulnerable AFF workers. Increased targeted intervention studies, with robust evaluation components, are needed.