Agricultural work injury data are less available than data for other industries, so an overview of existing data is provided. Agriculture has the highest annual work death rate of all industries, 52 per 100,000 workers, which is five times the combined rate for all industries. Tractor-related injuries are the leading types of fatal injuries; injuries involving agricultural machinery, animals, and trucks are the leading types of non-fatal injuries. Victims of fatal accidents range in age from less than 1 year to over 90. Research needs are discussed, including the need for comprehensive surveillance.

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A fundamental problem with classifying agriculturally related injury is that there is neither a rational nor a comprehensive scheme for grouping incidents into categories describing actual exposures encountered on farms and in agricultural work. Current surveillance systems are unable to differentiate between work that is related to farm production and work that is not, and to include all exposed persons in the surveillance. The proposed Farm and Agricultural Injury Classification Code is a step toward overcoming these problems. When it was applied to previously analyzed fatality data, 40% of cases previously identified as farm production work were reclassified into other categories.

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BackgroundAgricultural safety and health researchers have used a variety of classification and coding schemes to identify and categorize injury, illness, and disease associated with agricultural hazards. This paper demonstrates how the Farm and Agricultural Injury Classification (FAIC) and Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS) coding schemes can be used in tandem for all agricultural injuries.MethodsSpecific cases from the AgInjuryNews.org database were selected to illustrate how the FAIC and OIICS codes can be applied to agricultural injury, and to illustrate limitations that still exist with each coding scheme.ResultsUsing the FAIC and OIICS together provided a clearer picture of an injury incident by combining more explicit occupational and non‐occupational exposures with incident type details in a single table.ConclusionsBoth FAIC and OIICS coding schemes depend on sufficient information being available from injury reports. This paper concluded with suggestions for improving coding of agricultural injury.

Agriculture continues to be a very hazardous industry. One of the possible risk factors for injury may be the absence of safety features on farm machinery. A feasibility study was undertaken to assess the feasibility of obtaining information on deficiencies or absence of safety devices. Tractors and power take-off (PTO) driven machines on 36 dairy farms were inspected. The pilot study was well received by farmers. The absence of rollover protective structures (ROPS) and PTO shields appeared related to the age of the machine. Since the sample was a convenience sample consisting only of dairy farms, no substantial inferences from such a pilot study should be drawn. It did appear, however, that such a project was readily accepted, and that older machinery more often possessed deficient or missing safety devices.

Background Injury data and reports provide valuable information for both public and private organizations to guide programming, policy, and prevention, but in the increasingly complex and dangerous industry of US agriculture, the injury surveillance needed to produce this data is lacking. To address the gap, AgInjuryNews was established in 2015. The system includes fatal and nonfatal injury cases derived from publicly available reports, including occupational and nonoccupational injuries, occurring in the agricultural, forestry, and fishing (AFF) industry. Objective The study aimed to develop a stakeholder-engaged redesign of the interactive, up-to-date, and publicly available dataset of US AFF injury and fatality reports. Methods Instructor-led heuristic evaluations within a 15-student undergraduate course, data from 8 student participants of laboratory-based usability testing and 2016 and 2017 AgInjuryNews-registered user surveys, coupled with input from the National Steering Committee informed the development priorities for 2018. An interdisciplinary team employed an agile methodology of 2-week sprints developing in ASP.NET and Structured Query Language to deliver an intuitive frontend and a flexible, yet structured, backend, including a case report input form for capturing more than 50 data points on each injury report. Results AgInjuryNews produced 17,714 page views from 43 countries in 2018 captured via Google Analytics, whereas 623 injury reports were coded and loaded, totaling more than 31,000 data points. Newly designed features include customizable email alerts, an interactive map, and expanded search and filter options. User groups such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Agricultural Safety and Health Council of America have endorsed the system within their networks. News media have cited or referenced the system in national outlets such as the New York Times, Politico, and the Washington Post. Conclusions The new system’s features, functions, and improved data granularity have sparked innovative lines of research and increased collaborative interest domestically and abroad. It is anticipated that this nontraditional sentinel surveillance system and its dataset will continue to serve many purposes for public and private agricultural safety and health stakeholders in the years to come.

Fatalities due to tractor overturns have long plagued the U.S. farm community. Constituting 20% of agricultural fatalities, tractor overturns contribute significantly to high rates of fatal injuries. In the past, many efforts have been directed toward reducing tractor overturns, with one successful US-based program offering rebates to farmers who retrofit their tractors with rollover protective structures (ROPS). In an effort to expand the program, the National Tractor Safety Coalition was formed. This coalition hosted a "Whole System in the Room" workshop to bring 50 stakeholders together. During this workshop, participants worked together to identify a common vision for the future of tractor safety and ROPS programs and commit to action. At the close of the workshop, coalition members set out to begin work on 100 short- and long-term commitments to begin implementing a National ROPS Rebate Program.