ADAPT Program: Safety Skills Training For Agricultural Workers
Quick Summary
- WCAHS investigated employer educational needs and preferences through an online survey.
- Based on survey responses, the WCAHS ADAPT program developed a series of workplace safety videos and accompanying educational materials.
- WCAHS investigó las necesidades y preferencias educativas de los empleadores a través de una encuesta en línea.
- Basados en las respuestas a la encuesta, el programa ADAPT (por sus siglas en inglés) de WCAHS desarrolló una serie de videos de seguridad en el lugar de trabajo, acompañados de materiales educativos.
About the Study
California needs an agricultural workforce that is healthy, safe, and that can adapt to changing climate and technology. With funding through the California Farmworker Advancement Program, WCAHS developed the Advancing the Development of Agricultural workers’ Proficiency with new Technologies (ADAPT) project. ADAPT 1) investigated employer priorities for farmworker skill development through a survey and 2) developed a training on prioritized topics.
Methods
The online survey was designed to learn about the skills employers need in their workforce, with the aim of informing the development of a future training program. It was available in English and Spanish and included a set of ten questions that were distributed via center and partner newsletters. The survey targeted growers, employers, and farm labor contractors, though safety and human resource personnel and community-based organization staff were also able to complete the survey.
Survey questions asked respondents to identify the skills they would most like their agricultural employees to have. Skills were grouped into four categories: equipment-related safety skills, equipment-related technical skills, digital literacy, and soft skills. Respondents were also asked to rank skill categories by importance.
Study Results
In total, we collected 93 surveys. Within the equipment-related safety skills category, the skills most frequently selected by respondents were understanding equipment safety protocols and recognizing potential safety hazards. For the category of equipment-related technical skills, respondents most selected proper operation of farm equipment and recognizing signs of wear and tear of belts, chains, moving parts. The most selected option for the digital literacy skills category was using mobile apps for work tasks. Lastly, for the soft skills category, respondents selected effective communication with peers and leadership and decision making.
When asked to rank the four skill categories by importance, responses showed a strong preference for workers to have a foundational understanding of core safety skills (Figure 1). These skills typically include an understanding of equipment safety protocols, recognizing potential safety hazards, and knowing how to respond to and communicate about safety hazards.
Outcomes
Based on survey results, the greatest demand for a training was related to general workplace safety skills. Therefore, WCAHS developed a bilingual (English and Spanish) training series consisting of four topics:
- Overview of workplace hazards
- Identifying workplace hazards
- Communicating about workplace hazards
- Controlling workplace hazards
Developed resources were designed to be used for self-guided learning or delivered by supervisors, safety personnel, or community leaders. Resources include videos, presentation decks, and activity cards.
Each video provides a brief overview of the skill and includes practical examples of how the skill can be applied in the workplace. The videos can be used with the presentation decks and activity cards as part of a full-length training or viewed individually as an introduction to key safety concepts.
Presentation decks are structured to be easy to follow, enabling facilitators of varying experience levels to confidently understand and teach the material. In addition, activity cards were designed to reinforce the concepts introduced in the presentation decks and videos. These activities can be used during the training, allowing learners to practice the skills. They can also be used as brief standalone activities.
By translating safety concepts into easy-to-understand tools, the training resources have the potential to help expand workers’ ability to recognize and respond to hazards, ultimately supporting safer work environments. The educational resources will be a useful tool employers can use to equip workers with foundational workplace safety skills.
Click here to access the free training resources
ADAPT was funded through the Farmworker Advancement Program from the California Employment Development Department.