Research and education within worker health and safety focuses on the prevention of injuries and diseases in the workplace. The University of Florida supports a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Center through the Department of Environmental and Global Health: The Southeastern Coastal Center for Agricultural Health and Safety. This center supports the well-being of workers in some of the most dangerous work sectors in the nation: agriculture, forestry, and fisheries.
Research-to-practice projects focus on surveillance to determine risk factors leading up to injuries or illnesses; addressing heat stress, air pollution and pesticide exposure outcomes for farm workers, and reducing fatalities and injuries for seafood harvesters challenged with rough environmental conditions and long hours on an unstable work platform. Faculty from the Department and collaborating institutions in the southeastern U.S. provide public health expertise in support of workers in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Learn more about our faculty members working in worker health and safety by visiting their profiles below.
Health and Safety Surveillance to Support Gulf Seafood Workers
"Working with stakeholders to bring meaningful science is, perhaps, one of the most rewarding parts of my job in public health."
Protecting the Health of Crop Farmworkers in Florida
“Understanding the needs of communities through their lens is the most effective way to make progress in protecting their health”