Pilot Projects
CARERC exists to provide state-of-the-art, interdisciplinary occupational safety and health research, education, and training opportunities for stakeholders in 177 high-need counties of eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina, and Virginia. Regional pilot studies funded through CARERC address strategic aims of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health(CDC/NIOSH) and the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA II). These aims include, but are not limited to, improving sector- and state-based occupational disease and injury surveillance, promoting risk-hazard reduction in forestry and logging, reducing injury and disease exposures among workers due to circumstances that may limit their options for safeguarding their safety and health, and promoting prevention through design (PtD).
2018-2019
The four counties served by the Northern Kentucky Health Department – Boone, Kenton, Campbell, and Grant – have been some of the hardest hit by the opioid epidemic... |
Currently, there are no evidence-based training interventions for first responders that addresses the gap in knowledge regarding protection against... |
Occupational noise exposure is a significant public health concern. Excessive exposure to noise has been found to be associated not only with hearing loss and... |
“Drowning in Dust” includes oral histories and photographs to document lived experiences and stories of coal miners with black lung disease and progressive massive... |
Few if any logging contractors consider the health risk presented by exposure to whole body vibration in their safety and health plans for logging equipment... |
Race riding is physically challenging and requires athletic training akin to professional sports occupations. Occupational ergonomic interventions include considerations of physical capabilities... |
The proposed project involves the development of a statewide, standardized opioid exposure information dissemination and training strategy which incorporates CDC/NIOSH recommendations and includes... |
2017-2018
This project continues the research funded by a PPRT in 2016-2017 allowing us to report impactful outcomes. Plant silages, such as corn or alfalfa silages, are a type of feed typically fed to... |
CARERC launched a special submissions call to address concerns about exposure and health effects of first responders, emergency, and law enforcement personnel to opioid drugs. Awards were made to... |
2016-2017
Plant silages, such as corn or alfalfa, are a type of feed typically fed to cattle in almost every dairy and beef farm. In the US, approximately 119 to 128 million tons of corn silage are produced... |
Workplaces continue to struggle with cost incurred in areas of both health protection and health promotion. Rural locations can present some additional challenges for workplaces wanting to create... |
Effective January 2, 2017, revisions to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Worker Protection Standard (WPS) will be effective. Among these revisions is the requirement that any... |
2015-2016
Migrant and seasonal farmworkers (MSFW) are at risk for developing musculoskeletal symptoms and injuries (MSSI) due to repetitive, physically demanding tasks sustained over long periods. They have... |
The US Department of Labor Statistics report that agriculture is one of the most dangerous occupations in the country. If chronic health conditions are included in this analysis, the threat is... |
We are proposing to investigate epigenetic changes (DNA methylation) in association with occupational wood smoke exposure among wildland firefighters. Specifically, we will investigate changes in... |
Within the transportation, warehousing, and utility industry sector, truck transportation has the highest number of work-related musculoskeletal disorders with low back pain (LBP) at the root of... |
2014-2015
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive disease that is characterized by limited airflow associated with inflammatory response in the airways and lungs to particles and gases... |
In a recent intensive study of farms in East Tennessee, Salmonella enterica was present in 32% of unprocessed litter samples and 8% of flies collected. Salmonella was also detected in produce,... |
Outdoor workers in the forestry and logging industries often face occupational health hazards such as insect bites and the extent to which exposures are linked to vector borne disease is not fully... |
In addition to Dr. Westneat, 4 other researchers were involved including Dr. Michael Flythe of the USDA, 2 PhD students and a visiting undergraduate intern from the AgroSup University in France. ... |
This inter-professional pilot study uses a community based participatory research (CBPR) approach to develop and evaluate a culturally effective method to educate Spanish speaking Hispanic farm... |
Numerous articles have identified the known and recognizable health and safety issues that paid professional firefighters encounter when responding to a fire, however, there has not been a robust... |
In the process of developing a web-based application (that has the ability to be used with a mobile interface and/or developed into an App for smartphone usage) to automatically generate least... |