Unfortunately, in agricultural safety and health, implementation efforts have been quite limited so far. This study was designed for two reasons. First, to help advance implementation efforts in agricultural safety. Second, to evaluate the implementation of a specific agricu
ltural safety program: the National Rollover Protective System (ROPS) Rebate Program.
The National ROPS Rebate Program helps farmers overcome barriers to installing ROPS, which are bars installed over the driver's seat of a tractor and prevent the driver from being crushed by the tractor if it overturns. This is done by providing information about the appropriate ROPS kits for each tractor as well as a financial rebate for farmers who install ROPS.
While the Program has been successful in several states, it is currently being implemented nationally, and thus not yet available to all farmers. A national coalition of agricultural stakeholders representing research, government, engineering, health and safety, and several other groups is working together to implement the national program and this implementation is the basis of this study.
Throughout the study, a number of possible factors that could help or hinder the implementation of the National ROPS Rebate Program were assessed. Briefly, the most important factors for implementation of this study were the ability to develop and present evidence supporting the Program in ways that are appealing and accessible to stakeholders of various backgrounds, stakeholders' beliefs about the Program, increasing the stakeholders' engagement in implementing the Program, and finally, the presence of policies supporting the Program.
The results of this study will immediately be useful in modifying the implementation strategy for the National ROPS Rebate Program. In addition, the methods used and the results will be helpful in guiding other agricultural safety researchers who wish to implement other solutions.
This thesis included a literature review to understand the implementation context, surveys with stakeholders to see their views of the implementation project, interviews with stakeholders to better understand the implementation process and environment, and a review of published media reports to understand how media has impacted implementation.
Pamela Tinc is an agricultural safety researcher at the Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety in Cooperstown, NY, USA. She holds an MPH from the University at Albany.
About the public defence of the doctoral thesis
Pamela Tinc, Department of Epidemiology and Global Health, Friday 25 October at 9.00 defends her doctoral thesis Raising the (Roll)Bar: Exploring barriers and facilitators to research translation in US public health using the consolidated framework for implementation research. Faculty opponent: Professor Per Nilsen, Linköpings University. Principal supervisor: Kristina Lindvall. Location: Assembly hall D, Unod T9, University Hospital, Umeå.
Read the doctoral thesis