Research and education on health and safety in agriculture, forestry, and fishing industries
What is the Southeastern Coastal Center for Agricultural Health and Safety?
The Southeastern Coastal Center for Agricultural Health and Safety (SCCAHS) is part of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) / National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Agricultural Health and Safety Initiative. SCCAHS explored and addressed the occupational safety and health needs of people working in agriculture, fishing, and forestry in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.
The University of Florida was the lead institution of this Center, partnering with the University of South Florida (USF), Florida State University (FSU), Florida A&M University (FAMU), Emory University, and the University of the Virgin Islands. These universities worked together on a range of interdisciplinary research and educational projects designed to promote occupational health and safety among the 240,000 farms — estimated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture — to be operating in the region, their operators, families, employees, and contractors, as well as those in the forestry and fishery industries.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Agricultural Centers were established as part of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) / NIOSH Agricultural Health and Safety Initiative in 1990. The CDC, through NIOSH, awarded the University of Florida with a multi-million-dollar grant for a five-year project to create the Southeastern Coastal Center for Agricultural Health and Safety (SCCAHS), which became part of a national network with 11 other agricultural health and safety centers. These centers conducted research, education, and prevention projects to address the health and safety issues in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industries. The centers were distributed geographically throughout the nation in order to be responsive to unique needs that arose in different regions.
This website serves as repository of information created by the Southeastern Coastal Center for Agriculture Health and Safety. For more information on our webinars, please visit our YouTube channel linked here.
