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Abstract
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Background and Aim There has been an increasing share of the work force as migrant workers in agriculture. The injuries and working conditions for these migrant workers are not well documented and their own experiences and attitudes are not yet studied. There is also lacking knowledge about the perspectives of the Swedish co-workers and owners on farms with migrant workers.
Methods A web-based survey among employers has been done in the first part of this project. In the following part there will be work-place studies with interviews involving migrant workers as well as Swedish co-workers and employers to get a base-line of knowledge for further actions.
Results The initial web-based survey to employers was responded by almost 4000 farm employers. About 20% of the responders said that they used migrant workers during 2011, the majority from a country within the European Union (EU). The main reason for using migrant workers was lack of Swedish workers and financial reasons. The migrant workers were used for in many different work operations such as: animal production, weeding, planting and harvesting of field crops, forestry work, construction and maintenance of farm buildings. The major problems were related to language issues, such as: communication, information, misunderstandings leading to injuries etc.
Contribution to the Field The final results will be presented and discussed at a work-shop with involved stakeholders, organisations, authorities, researchers and other in order to create an action plan, a webpage or a 'hand-book' for employers/managers as well as a research plan for further research.
This is an abstract of a presentation at Safety 2012, the 11th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, 1-4 October 2012, Michael Fowler Center, Wellington, New Zealand. Full text does not seem to be available for this abstract. |