title: Sectoral network on occupational health and safety in agriculture to support enterprises and family farms in Estonia.
abstract: A sectoral network on occupational health and safety in agriculture has been established in Estonia as part of a project that provided support for Estonian accession into European Union. Participating organizations represent farmers' unions at county level, agricultural enterprises, workers' representatives, universities and agricultural expert institutions, and government agencies. The purpose is to provide a shared infrastructure that combines information and other capacities of several organizations and provides a platform for dialogue and co-operation in order to make a greater impact with available resources. The network has a decentralized architecture and is technically managed by an institutionalized secretariat. The network's task forces have compiled a network directory, summarised the capacities and interests of member organizations, made an inventory of existing information and training materials, developed an overall strategy for information management, established an information repository on the Internet, prepared promotional materials, and devised a protocol for agricultural walk-though assessment. A profile on occupational health and safety in Estonian agriculture has been compiled with a rapid assessment approach that collected both quantitative and qualitative information from secondary sources (statistics, documents) and from focus group discussions. The profile is used as an instrument for taking occupational health and safety needs in agriculture into discussion on political arena.
authors.affiliation: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Kari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kurppa
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tammaru
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kempinen
authors.forename: Ester
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rünkla
authors.forename: Jaan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sõrra
authors.forename: Suvi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lehtinen
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D019058:Community Networks / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004957:Estonia; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D016272:Occupational Health