Health and safety hazards associated with farming.

1. Farming is a dangerous occupation with many potential physical, chemical, and biological hazards. Hazards include noise, machinery, motor vehicles, electricity, temperature extremes, pressurized hydraulic fluids, grain storage facilities, hand and power tools, repetitive motion, vibration, chemicals, dusts, gases, and infectious agents. 2. Psychosocial factors related to agriculture include stress, economic considerations, poor access to health care, and injuries to minors who begin working at a young age. 3. Many who farm also work at other jobs. Farm related illnesses and injuries can be costly to non-farm employers in terms of lost work time, medical insurance, and life insurance. 4. Occupational health nurses can promote agricultural occupational health through companies that employ farmers and through community organizations, thereby contributing to a better understanding of farm related hazards and developing strategies for reducing these hazards.

Real ear attenuation at threshold for three audiometric headphone devices: implications for maximum permissible ambient noise level standards.

Attenuation measurements were made using the ANSI S12.6-1984 protocol on a standard Telephonics headset with TDH-50P earphones and Model 51 cushions, Amplivox Audiocups headphone enclosures, and Peltor AudioMate headphone enclosures. Each of the enclosures housed Telephonics TDH-50P earphones with Model 51 cushions. The mean attenuation values obtained were compared with those previously reported, and reasons for discrepancies were analyzed. Pure-tone threshold shifts in background noise complying with ANSI S3.1-1977 and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (1983) maximum permissible ambient noise level standards were estimated on the basis of the attenuation values for each headphone device, and the adequacy of these current standards for accurate pure-tone threshold assessment was considered. The results indicated that Model 51 cushions alone are insufficient to attenuate the ambient noise levels permitted under ANSI S3.1-1977, and even the utilization of noise-excluding headphone enclosures does not reduce the background noise levels permitted under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (1983) to a sufficient degree to permit testing down to 0 dB HL.