Surveillance of fatal and non‐fatal farm injuries in Kentucky

Abstract

This report describes one approach to establish a surveillance method of farm injuries. The surveillance system is designed to be used to evaluate ongoing prevention activities related to education, training, and equipment design. To define the subset of information to be included in a surveillance system, existing data were analyzed. The mortality data were death certificates and the morbidity data were from the Farm Accident Survey conducted in 1978, (National Safety Council forms and sampling design). Limitations of the data currently available are discussed; information needs for an agricultural injury surveillance system are presented.

Workers' compensation experience of Colorado agriculture workers, 2000–2004

“…The finding of higher injury rates among farms with large animals has also been reported by Stallones [1990], and an excess injury risk associated with beef farms in Canada was reported by Pickett et al [1995].…”

Agricultural work-related injuries among farmers in Hubei, People's Republic of China

“…Other researchers have reported increased rates of injury with more years of education. 12,13,17,31 With data collected from Ohio farmers, Crawford and colleagues 12 found that college graduates were at higher risk for injury compared with all others. Because farming activities are vastly different among various conditions, a mere comparison by years of education may not provide a clear-cut trend.…”

“…[6][7][8] Previous studies of work-related injuries among farmers have described patterns of farmers' injuries and have evaluated a variety of potential risk factors. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] In general, the risk factors have been categorized into 2 domains: physical characteristics of the farming environment and personal characteristics of the farmers. With respect to characteristics of the farming environment, the patterns of injury have been fairly consistently reported among these studies, with farm machinery, falls, and animal-related injuries being the 3 major external causes of injury.…”

“…10,12 With respect to personal characteristics of the farmers, males were found to be at higher risk for injury than females, regardless of hours spent in farm activities. 7,17,18 Although results of several studies indicated that younger farmers have the highest risk of nonfatal injuries, 10,[12][13][14]17 older farmers tend to account for the greatest proportion of agricultural fatalities. 17,19 Among 20 recently reviewed studies of stress and occupational injuries, all found a statistically significant association (P≤.05) between stress and injuries, and 12 of the 17 studies with quantitative measures had odds ratios greater than 1.0, indicating that stress increased the risk of injuries.…”

“…7,17,18 Although results of several studies indicated that younger farmers have the highest risk of nonfatal injuries, 10,[12][13][14]17 older farmers tend to account for the greatest proportion of agricultural fatalities. 17,19 Among 20 recently reviewed studies of stress and occupational injuries, all found a statistically significant association (P≤.05) between stress and injuries, and 12 of the 17 studies with quantitative measures had odds ratios greater than 1.0, indicating that stress increased the risk of injuries. 20 Other factors such as education, 21 preexisting diseases and use of medications, [11][12][13][14] alcohol consumption, 9 family incomes, 8,11,13,14 and knowledge of safe practices and safety behaviors 13,22 also have been evaluated, but the conclusions have been inconsistent.…”