North American Guidelines for Children's Agricultural Tasks: five-year assessment and priorities for the future.
BACKGROUND
The North American Guidelines for Children's Agricultural Tasks (NAGCAT) are a safety resource created to assist parents in selecting safe work for their children 7-16 years of age. Since their release in 1999, a growing body of scientific evidence has accumulated regarding NAGCAT. The purpose of this project was to assess the current scientific and programmatic evidence regarding the efficacy and utilization of the NAGCAT resource in order to determine the priorities for the next 5 years.


METHODS
A systematic, evidenced-based method was employed to accomplish the project objectives. Our data sources included results from a survey of agricultural safety practitioners and researchers, a comprehensive synthesis of the peer-reviewed literature, and recommendations from a priority-setting meeting.


RESULTS
Five main priorities were identified: to address the perceptions and barriers associated with the use and non-use of the NAGCAT resource; to revise and re-format a core set of the guidelines; to develop a NAGCAT resource dissemination/marketing plan; to provide training and support for agricultural safety professionals and parents using NAGCAT; and to conduct further research to facilitate accomplishing these priorities.


CONCLUSIONS
This assessment and priority identification process was successful in outlining the next steps for the NAGCAT resource. As we move toward 2010, those involved in pediatric agricultural injury prevention will have a blueprint to ensure that NAGCAT are an effective and widely used resource for preventing work-related injuries.
Doty
Brit
B
National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, 1000 North Oak Avenue, Marshfield, Wisconsin 54449, USA.
Marlenga
Barbara
B
D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000293:Adolescent; D000383:Agriculture; D002648:Child; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D009656:North America; D012449:Safety; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*