Current Activities

In 1977, William E. (Bill) Field replaced Professor Willsey who had retired the previous year. Building on the work started by Professor Willsey, Professor Field became heavily involved in coordinating and promoting local agricultural safety activities throughout the state. He sought to involve as many groups as possible in program efforts including Farm Bureau, 4-H, FFA, Extension Homemakers, insurance companies, implement dealers, and community organizations.

During the past three decades, under the leadership of Professor Field, Purdue's Agricultural Safety and Health Program has gained additional national and international recognition. Professor Field has developed both undergraduate classes and graduate programs that have exposed thousands of students to the field of agricultural safety and health. His coordination of graduate level research has resulted in the awarding of 35 graduate degrees in the field and dozens of research reports and published works that have contributed substantially to the literature available.

Professor Field and other program staff have been consulted for their expertise in development of injury prevention and rural rehabilitation programs by numerous organizations and companies throughout the U.S. and Canada. Staff has provided technical and educational services for major farm organizations, 4-H, FFA, many of the major agricultural equipment manufacturers, legal agencies, insurance companies, rural hospitals, and numerous agricultural businesses.

Some of the recent accomplishments are summarized as follows:

1. Dissemination of agricultural safety and health information.
2. Improve the quality of agricultural injury data.
3. Train rural leaders to increase their effectiveness in promoting agricultural safety and health issues.
4. Conduct in-depth investigations into specific high risk areas of agricultural production.
5. Provide graduate level opportunities for individuals in the field of agricultural safety and health.
6. Improve rural and agricultural emergency response training.
7. Develop a rehabilitation technology information base and demonstrate service delivery strategies designed to enhance the independence of rural and farm families impacted by disability.