Abstract
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), in an ongoing effort to address the issue of injuries on farms in the U.S., collaborated with the USDA to complete the 2001 and 2004 Occupational Injury Surveillance of Production Agriculture Surveys (OISPAS). The OISPAS data indicated that the estimated adult working population (household and hired) on U.S. farms decreased from 6,170,940 in 2001 to 5,294,912 in 2004. The estimated number of work-related injuries decreased from 75,756 to 71,081. The rate of injury increased over this same time period (12.3 injuries per 1,000 working adults to 13.4 injuries per 1,000 working adults). The majority of these injuries occurred to adults in the age range of 45 to 54 years. The vast majority of injuries occurred to males, over 75% in both years. Animals (17%) and the ground (17%) were the source of injury in approximately 35% of injuries reported in each year. The most common injury events were "struck by objects" and falls. These two events combined accounted for over half of all work-related injuries in both 2001 and 2004. The OISPAS data indicated that although injuries are decreasing as the size of the at-risk population decreases, the rate of injury is increasing. The results of this research may be used to direct current injury prevention efforts and to plan for future injury surveillance.
Keywords
Accident-rates; Accidents; Accident-statistics; Age-groups; Agricultural-industry; Agricultural-workers; Agriculture; Animal-husbandry; Animals; Farmers; Injuries; Injuries; Occupational-accidents; Occupational-hazards; Statistical-analysis Surveillance-programs; Traumatic-injuries;
Author Keywords: Agriculture; Animals; Falls; Injuries; Surveillance; Workers