Agricultural injuries in Korea and errors in systems of safety

Abstract

It was found that most agricultural injuries were caused by a complex layer of root causes which were classified as errors in the systems of safety. This result indicates that not only training and personal protective equipment, but also regulation of safety design, mitigation devices, inspection/maintenance of workplaces, and other factors play an important role in preventing agricultural injuries. The identification of errors will help farmers to implement easily an effective prevention programme.

Analysis of checklists for agricultural safety management

“…Therefore, further research is required to review a more diverse range of items on health and safety management, and include checklists developed by private organizations, such as agricultural and insurance companies, universities, and research institutions. Kim et al (2016) engaged in the analysis of causes of farmers' occupational injuries using the logic tree analysis, which confirmed that most safety incidents occur as a result of the accumulation of various errors in safety systems, rather than due to simple exposure to hazards or mistakes by workers [2]. However, the authors of the current study argue that the most optimal checklist for preventing farmers' occupational injuries should include the maximum number of items classifiable within the safety systems presented in this study.…”

“…According to previous studies, the occupational injuries faced by farmers are associated with farm management conditions and their socio-economic status [18,19]. Kim et al (2016) stated that farmers' occupational injuries occur due to errors in various safety systems, such as inefficient design of machines, lack of communication tools such as warning signs, and lack of training.…”

“…The current study analyzed and classified the items in four existing agricultural health and safety checklists into six safety systems suggested by Kim et al (2016), presenting considerations for improving future agricultural health and safety checklists, as well as regulations [2].…”

“…2). The definition of each system in this study varies slightly from that suggested in previous research, given that agricultural workplace conditions are different from those in other industries [2,17]. The items that could not be classified into the domains of the six safety systems were labeled as 'not categorized' (NC) items.…”

“…However, health and safety management in agriculture is challenging compared to other industries due to difficulties in accessibility caused by geographical dispersion, smaller size of farming businesses, diversity of farms and farm work, management by self-employed farmers, aging of farmers, a wide range of potential hazards from use of agricultural machinery to animals [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Due to these factors, there is a lack of health and safety regulations specifically for agriculture, even in Western countries; also in Korea, the current health and safety management system under the Occupational Health and Safety Act has largely avoided agriculture [7][8][9].…”