Occupational health service for farmers in Sweden

Abstract

Farming is an occupation in which risks and many health hazards have been identified. Unlike other Swedish industrial sectors, agriculture has not had an occupational health service until recently. At the initiative of local farmers' groups, a trial program was started in 1977, and occupational health care for farmers and farm workers has gradually developed since then. Today, 35,000 farmers are affiliated on a voluntary basis. The occupational health program offers biennial health checkups, along with informational activities and farm visits during the interim. Nurses, physicians, and physiotherapists deal with work-related symptoms and diseases, and safety engineers conduct farm visits. The large number of environmental hazards existing in agriculture constitutes a spur to further development of the occupational health service and to research. Results so far are promising, and occupational health care in agriculture should be encouraged.