Young adults enrolled in collegiate agricultural programs are a critical audience for agricultural health and safety training. Understanding the farm tasks that young adults engage in is necessary for tailoring health and safety education. The project analyzed evaluation survey responses from the Gear Up for Ag Health and Safety™ program, including reported agricultural tasks, safety concerns, frequency of discussing health and safety concerns with healthcare providers, safety behaviors, and future career plans. The most common tasks reported included operation of machinery and grain-handling. Most participants intended to work on a family-owned agricultural operation or for an agribusiness/cooperative following graduation. Reported safety behaviors (hearing protection, eye protection, and sunscreen use when performing outdoor tasks) differed by gender and education type. Male community college and university participants reported higher rates of “near-misses” and crashes when operating equipment on the roadway. One-third of participants reported discussing agricultural health and safety issues with their medical provider, while 72% were concerned about the health and safety of their family and co-workers in agriculture. These findings provide guidance for better development of agricultural health and safety programs addressing this population—future trainings should be uniquely tailored, accounting for gender and educational differences.

. Parents' attitudes to risk and injury to children and young people on farms.

Highlights A grain handling scenario-based survey was administered to college students studying agriculture. Participants chose an action after reading each scenario and ranked factors affecting their decision-making. Most participants chose a “safe” option and claimed to value their personal safety when making decisions. Parental authority and pressure had little influence on participants’ decisions to enter grain bins. Abstract. The approaches that parents take in the supervision of youth who perform hazardous tasks on family farms can affect youth safety outcomes. This research examines the most significant factors affecting youths’ decisions to enter agricultural grain storage facilities. Over 200 students attending a Midwestern land-grant university who had grain bin experience as youth completed a decision-making survey. Students chose from a list of actions in three realistic but hypothetical scenarios involving grain bin entry. Afterward, they ranked factors according to the level of importance in their decision. Although most participants chose options that emphasized safety when answering the scenario questions and held the “personal safety” factor in highest regard, some chose higher-risk options and valued “productivity.” The findings revealed that youth held little value in their parents’ authority and pressure when making decisions related to grain bin entry. The study’s limitations are addressed, as are the implications of these findings for youth safety outcomes on family farms. Keywords: Decision-making, External pressures, Farm youth safety, Grain bin safety.

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