Prevention of Occupational Health Hazards in Other Regions

As we wait to hear back from officials at Tap-IN and CARE, we have continued to research similar projects to find inspiration for a solution. An anthropologist named Thomas Arcury has done a lot of work surrounding Latino and African American Farmworkers. He has written several articles about his work, which focuses a great deal around North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, and the Midwest. In one of his articles, Arcury addresses preventive measures African American farmworkers take to avoid injuries while on the job. Interestingly, Arcury writes that many workers already have preventative knowledge, information that was noticeably absent to Apopka farmworkers. In regards to chemical use, one informant tells Arcury about protective clothing the workers wear. “They wear the gloves, the cap, and they put on the coveralls. And then they go on and after they spray the tobacco, well then I think it’s three days you don’t go in it under three days. You know, you have to stay out of it, out of the crop” (1997, 171). This scenario is drastically different from the Apopka farmworkers who worked in fields recently sprayed with pesticides, attributing to their multiple skin problems. Apopka farmworkers were so unaware of the hazards of their work that they often used old drums once containing pesticides as converted grills to cook food. This discrepancy of information also raises a great deal of questions, such as why was this information not reaching Apopka farmworkers? Who is responsible for insuring farmworker safety: the individual worker, the farm, or a government agency?

The Farmworkers Association of Florida had managed programs about occupational hazards associated with being a farmworker, but were those programs well received? Arcury makes note of some workers who avoided necessary precautions when using machinery because of resistance to change or not wanting to spend extra money to make the equipment safer (1997, 170.). As we learn more about the situation in Apopka it becomes increasingly clear how this population has been forgotten and left behind in various ways.