SafetyCatalog
Introduction
This article presents an overview of farm hazards and accident statistics.
It also empha-sizes the importance of considering safety first.
According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), farming is considered one of the most hazardous and dangerous occupations in the United States.
Farmers are at a relatively high risk for fatal and nonfatal injuries.
It is important that farm workers should be made aware of potential hazards in day-to-day farm operations to reduce the possibility of injury or death.
Farm Hazards Statistics
Unfortunately, the number of fatal work injuries by major event in 2015 accounted for 4,824 cases.
Transportation incidents, the event with the most casualties among workers’ fatal injuries, represented 42.6 percent of these fatalities.
Falls/slips/trips, contact with objects and equipment and violence accounted for 800, 722 and 703 fatal occupational injuries, respectively.
Fatal occupational injuries by major event or exposure, 2015
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2015 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.
| Event or exposure | Number of fatalities |
| Violence and other injuries by persons or animals. | 703 |
| Transportation incidents | 2054 |
| Fires and explosions | 121 |
| Falls, slips, trips | 800 |
| Exposure to harmful substances or environments | 424 |
| Contact with objects and equipment | 722 |
| TOTAL | 4824 |
Field Safety
According to the USDA, 21 million full-time and part-time jobs in the United States in 2015 were related to the agricultural and food sectors.
Direct on-farm employ-ment accounted for about 2.6 million of these jobs.
As reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 472,000 youth performed farm work and about 259,000 youth were hired to work on U.S. farms in 2012.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/aginjury
A few field dangers cause many farm-related injuries and fatalities.
In 2014, the CDC estimated that there were 58,385 adult farm injuries.
The number of agricultural work-related injuries declined from 87,503 in 2001 to 47,332 in 2009 and then, unfortunately, increased to 58,385 in 2014. Accordingly, every day about 160 agricultural workers suffer a lost-worktime injury.
Moreover, 5 percent of these injuries result in permanent impairment.
An estimated 14,000 youth were injured on farms; 2,700 of these injuries were due to farm work in 2012.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/aginjury/
Injuries Causes
The primary cause of injury has largely remained unchanged, with persons, plants, animals, materials, tools, instruments, equipment and other causes responsible for the majority of work-related injuries in agriculture.
In 2013, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 459 farmers and farm workers died from a work-related injury, resulting in a fatality rate of 21.7 deaths per 100,000 workers, which is about twofold that for the next highest industries of mining and transportation and warehousing.
Injury and death rates in almost every survey published are higher from April to September for agricultural work, when most farm activities occur.
In statistics reported in 1996 by the National Safety Council, the major causes of agricultural-related fatalities were tractors (37%) and agricultural machinery (17%).
Fatalities caused by tractors included tractor overturns, running over victims, jump-starting tractors, hitching equipment or folding equipment for road travel.
Farm tractor accidents still remain the leading cause of death and injury on farms.
