2021 Nordic Meeting on Agricultural Occupational Health and Safety

Programme for Nordic meeting (description of social and cultural program is at the bottom of the website)

Monday 6. September 

10:30-11:10: Registration

11:10-11:40: Welcome and opening of the meeting

11:40-12:20: Mental health in farmers: A brief overview of the recent literature – and how do we move forward from here? Magnhild Oust Torske. Nord University, Norway

12:20-12:40: ‘That’s me I am the farmer of the land’: Exploring identities, masculinities and health among male farmers’ in Ireland. Conor Hammersley¹,, Noel Richardson, David Meredith, Paula Carroll, John McNamara.¹Department of Science and Health, National Centre for Men’s Health (NCMH), Institute of Technology, Carlow, Ireland

12:40-13:00: Presentation of the Norwegian project Safe Farmer (In Norwegian: Trygg Bonde). Trond Løkling¹ and Linn Thorud. ¹Semje Trondheim, Norway

13:00-13:45: Break / snacks

13:45-14:05: Rural Crime. Eva Göransson¹ and Peter Lundqvist. ¹Department of People and Society, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden

14:05-14:40: Impacts of Support the Farmer project in Finland. Arja Peltomäki-Vastamaa and Pirjo Saari. Farmers´ Social Insurance Institution (Mela), Finland

14:40-15:00: Are grazing practices in the outfields sustainable? Mental health pressures in carnivore affected areas. Katrina Rønningen and Alexander Zahl-Thanem. Ruralis- Institute of Rural and Regional Research, Norway

15:00-15:15: Break/snacks

15.15-15.55: Farming exposure and respiratory health. Grethe Elholm. Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Denmark

15.55-16:15: Development of respiratory symptoms in farmers from Norway. Siri Slåstad¹ and Kristin Hirsch Svendsen. ¹Department of Occupational Medicine at St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Norway

16:15-16.35: What do we know about chemical exposures in agriculture for those who are pregnant? Ellen Helstad. NLR Trøndelag, Norwegian Agricultural Extension Services, Norway

16:35-16:55: Farmers Have Hearts Cardiovascular Health Programme: Engaging Irish male livestock farmers in a cardiovascular disease prevention programme. Diana van Doorn¹, Noel Richardson, David Meredith and John McNamara. ¹National Centre for Men’s Health, Institute of Technology Carlow, Ireland

17:00: Bus departure to the hotel / downtown

18.30-11:00: Dinner and social program

Tuesday 7. September

08:45 -09:25: One Health – Animal Husbandry, Zoonoses and Occupational Health. Eystein Skjerve. Norwegian University og Life Sciences, Norway

09:25-09:45: Veterinarians’ exposure to surgical some from cattle dehorning- the smoking heat gun. Erika Zardin, Nils Petter Skaugset og Mikolaj Jan Jankowski. National Institute of Occupational Health NIOH (STAMI), Norway

09:45-10:05: Occupational exposure of pesticide in Norway, and health. Anna Nordhammer¹, Bjørn Hilt og Brit Logstein. ¹Department of Occupational Medicine at St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Norway

10:05-10:25: Assessing exposure to pesticide and their effects on microbial diversity of greenhouse workers. Erika Zardin, Raymond Olsen, Anani J. K. Afanou, Karl-Christian Nordby, Sunil Mundra and Anne Straumfors. National Institute of Occupational Health NIOH (STAMI), Norway

10:25-10:40: Break

10:40-11:00: From farm safety to farm worker safety: A review of behavioral models and their application to farming. Mohammad MohammadRezaei and David Meredith. Teagasc- Agriculture and Food Development Authority, Ireland

11:00-11:20: Agronomy education in Norway – Skjetlein Upper secondary school in Trøndelag. Stefan Preisig, assistant rector at Skjetlein upper secondary school

11:20-11:40: Pregnancy and health risks in agriculture- What does the research say? Marita Ruoharanta. Freelance expert in agriculture and pregnancy.

11:40-12.00: Break / snacks

12:00-12:20: Safety guide for small utility vehicles. Jarkko Leppälä¹, Veli-Matti Tuure, Matts Nysand,  Päivi Sarmala. ¹Natural Resources Institute of Finland (Luke), Helsinki

12:20-12:40: The experience of safety and risk of accidents among Norwegian dairy farmers. Helen Lyngstad Røste¹, Karin Laumann and Brit Logstein. ¹Former master student at Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social and Educational Sciences, NTNU

12:40-13:00: A method to link serious injuries to agricultural operations and assess the impact of changes in agricultural systems. Noha Mahmoud¹, Allan Leck Jensen, Cairistiona F. E. Topp, Claus Aage Grøn Sørensen, Michael Nørremark, Vera Eory and Nicholas J. Hutchings. ¹Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Denmark

13:00-13:20: Relation of safety cultures to risk behavior in agriculture. Jarkko Leppälä¹, Dusica Santa,  John McNamara, Janne P. Karttunen, Erhan Eser, Stephan Van den Broucke. ¹Natural Resources Institute of Finland (Luke), Helsinki

13:20-14:15: Lunch

14:15-14:35: Safety culture and risk management in agriculture- Sacurima cost action highlights. Jarkko Leppälä¹, John McNamara, Pat Griffin, Anne Marie Heiberg, Jose Rato Nunes, Aurelie Berthet, Joze Staric, Risto Rautiainen. ¹Natural Resources Institute of Finland (Luke), Helsinki

14:35-14:55: Work ability among organic and conventional farmers in Finland. Tiina Mattila¹, Risto Rautiainen, Maria Hirvonen, Minna Väre, and Merja Perkiö-Mäkelä. ¹Natural Resources Institute Finland

14:55-15:15: The use of Exoskeletons in daily agricultural work processes. Marianne Norup. Danish Agriculture & Food Council, Denmark

15:15-15:35: New technology and life quality for farmers- a double-edged blessing. Egil Petter Stræte. Ruralis- Institute of Rural and Regional Research, Norway

15:35-15:55: Break

15:55-16:15: How should we address the health and safety issues for migrant farm workers? Dialogue cards as a tool. Astrid Stampe Lovelady. SEGES, Denmark

16:15-16:35: Effects of terminating the premium discount incentive on workers’ compensation claims among Finnish farmers. Janne P. Karttunen¹ and Risto Rautiainen. ¹TTS Work Efficiency Institute, Finland

16:35-16:55: Prevent and promote mental health among farmers: A combination of research, practice and policies in Quebec, Canada. Philippe Roy and Nancy Beauregard. École de travail social, Université de Sherbrooke, Canada

16:55-17:15: Evaluating farmer satisfaction with OSH advice provision in Ireland, John McNamara and Francis Bligh. Agriculture and Food Development Authority, Ireland.

17:15-18:15: Break, including transportation to hotel.

18:15-23.00: Concert in Nidaros Cathedral / Dinner

Wednesday, 8. September

08:45-09:25: Migrant farm workers’ health, safety and working conditions. Johan Fredrik Rye. Affiliation: Department of Sociology and Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

09.30-11.30: Occupational health and agriculture in the Nordic countries. Challenges, possibilities, and solutions- now and in the future.

Norwegian Farmers Union

The Federation of Swedish Farmers

Danish Agriculture and Food Council,

Farmers` Association of Iceland

11:30 am-12:00: Break

12:00-12:15: Quality system in agriculture (KSL) and active HSE work on the farm. Tom Roterud, Head of department at Norwegian Agricultural Quality System

12:15-12:30: Norwegian Agricultural Extension Services and agricultural health. Halle Arnes. Coordinator for health, environment, and safety at Norwegian Agricultural Extension Services

12:30-13:00: Summary and identifying roads forward

13:00-14:00: Lunch

Invited key note speakers

	Johan Fredrik Rye is a Professor at the Department of Sociology and Political Science at NTNU. His current research is on international labour migration, focusing on migration streams from Central and Eastern European to Western European countries following the EU enlargements in 2004 and 2007. Key issues are migrants’ relation to the labour markets in hosting societies, their experiences with precarious wage, working and life conditions, and how they seek to establish transnational life strategies. He is currently leading the Global Labour in Rural Socities (GLARUS) research project, which studies labour migration to low-waged, low-skilled and low-status jobs in the rural industries, such as the agricultural industries, in Norway/Europe and the US, and he is charing the Research Group Migration and Mobilities at Department of Sociology and Political Science at NTNU. Among recent publications is International Labour Migration to Europe’s Rural Regions (co-edited with Karen O’Reilly, Routledge 2021).
	Grethe Elholm is an assistant professor at Institute of Public Health at Aarhus University. Her research involves investigating the effects of both indoor and outdoor environmental exposures on human health, particularly respiratory health and allergy. Occupational farming exposures have been scrutinized during the recent decades, since it is known that high levels of organic dust can have detrimental health effects. Elholm and her colleagues have contributed with several insights in this field, as they have carried out measuring campaigns in many farm stables, where they logged and mapped dust and endotoxin exposure according to specific tasks during a normal workday, and analysed the effects on lung health and the risk of developing allergy. It turns out that the diverse farming exposure environment poses both detrimental and beneficial effects. More about Elholm: Department of Public Health (au.dk) Grethe ELHOLM | Assistant Professor | PhD, MSc | Aarhus University | AU | Department of Public Health (researchgate.net)
	Eystein Skjerve is a professor of Veterinary Public Health at the Veterinary Faculty at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. His research has focused on infections that are transmitted between humans and vertebrates, so-called zoonoses. He has focused on zoonoses transmitted under Norwegian / Nordic conditions and has also worked for many years on similar issues in African countries. Such infections can be spread through food, but the origin is the direct contact with domestic animals and the environment that humans share with domestic animals (buildings, drinking water.) His approach has been a classic One Health approach where one seeks to understand how such infections can be controlled within the triad of humans, domestic animals, and wildlife. The environment shared by these three is a common factor. Skjerve has been the project manager of the project HUNT HUNT One Health (www.huntenhelse.no), a sub-project under the Health Survey in Trøndelag (HUNT), where one has collected stool samples from animals belonging to participants in HUNT.  Samples are now fully sequenced and will eventually be compared with similar from owners. More about Skjerve: https://www.nmbu.no/ans/eystein.skjerve https://www.eskjerve.com/ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Eystein-Skjerve
	Magnhild Torske has a phd in medicine and is lecturer at Nord University in Norway. Her field of interest is mental health in agriculture, and she has studied this topic by using data from The Trøndelag Health Study (the HUNT study). The HUNT study is one of the largest health studies ever performed.  She has knowledge about how the prevalence of anxiety and depression among farmers have developed over time, and compared to other occupational groups, and how mental health among farmers are the same or different from their siblings. Torske is now currently leading FarmMERGE (2021-2024), financed by The Norwegian Research council and Gjensidige. The overall aim of FarmMERGE is to investigate the associations between farmer health (both physical and mental) and their work environment – and the health, welfare and productivity of their animals.