Agricultural Youth Injuries: A Review of 2015-2017 Cases from U.S. News Media Reports

Understanding Stakeholder Dissemination Preferences for an Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Injury Surveillance System

Researchers and epidemiologists are working to improve the capture of agriculture, forestry, and fishing (AgFF) injuries in a variety of ways. A critical component of any surveillance system is the dissemination of information. The purpose of this paper is to report on a survey conducted with AgFF injury surveillance stakeholders to understand preferred dissemination strategies. The survey was distributed using REDCap via web link to organizational stakeholders, which included advisory board members, safety trainers, industry managers and workers, and research collaborators. In total, there were 75 respondents (21% response rate). Occupation and industry influenced preference in update methods. Regarding the length and breadth of updates, 63% of respondents prefer reports (one to five pages), followed by 57% desiring a summary (less than one page), while only 24% wanted a detailed analysis. Social media and news preferences were also different among stakeholders. Surveillance data were desired for 1) trend analysis, 2) tailoring activities and solutions for education, training, outreach and interventions and 3) for research purposes such as grant proposals and evaluation. The dissemination of injury surveillance data should be tailored to the intended audience. Greater attention needs to be paid to the ways in which we share our findings.

Agricultural Injury Surveillance in the United States and Canada: A Systematic Literature Review

INTRODUCTION

Agricultural injuries remain a major concern in North America, with a fatal injury rate of 19.5 deaths per 100,000 workers in the United States. Numerous research efforts have sought to compile and analyze records of agricultural-related injuries and fatalities at a national level, utilizing resources, ranging from newspaper clippings and hospital records to Emergency Medical System (EMS) data, death certifications, surveys, and other multiple sources. Despite these extensive efforts, a comprehensive understanding of injury trends over extended time periods and across diverse types of data sources remains elusive, primarily due to the duration of data collection and the focus on specific subsets.

METHODS

This systematic review, following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, consolidates and analyzes agricultural injury surveillance data from 48 eligible papers published between 1985 and 2022 to offer a holistic understanding of trends and challenges.

RESULTS

These papers, reporting an average of 25,000 injuries each, were analyzed by database source type, injury severity, nature of injury, body part, source of injury, event/exposure, and age. One key finding is that the top source of injury or event/exposure depends on the chosen surveillance system and injury severity, underscoring the need of diverse data sources for a nuanced understanding of agricultural injuries.

CONCLUSION

This study provides policymakers, researchers, and practitioners with crucial insights to bolster the development and analysis of surveillance systems in agricultural safety. The overarching aim is to address the pressing issue of agricultural injuries, contributing to a safer work environment and ultimately enhancing the overall well-being of individuals engaged in agriculture.

Animal-Related Injuries and Fatalities in the AgInjurynews Collection

OBJECTIVES

This research had three objectives. The first was to characterize reports of animal-related injuries found in the AgInjuryNews Dataset. The second objective was to compare the results of the AgInjuryNews reports to that of the Regional Rural Injury study. The third objective was to qualitatively and quantitatively assess the utility of using the AgInjuryNews database.

METHODS

A total of 104 reports on animal-related incidents representing 112 victims were sourced from AgInjuryNews. Chi square tests were performed comparing fatal and non-fatal injuries across age, gender, role in incident, animal, and activity. Additional chi square tests were performed to compare AgInjuryNews data with the results of Regional Rural Injury Study II across age, gender, animal, and activity. Utility of the dataset was assessed by examining the distribution of reports across states, the availability of articles, and qualitative observations.

RESULTS

Chi square results comparing fatal and nonfatal injuries were significant for victim gender. Results of the comparison of the two studies were significant for age and activity. A mismatch between the states with the highest populations of large animals and the states with the most reports in the AgInjryNews.org database was detected. Approximately 42% of reports the original articles were not accessible. Media bias plays a role in which cases are reported, but the size and accessibility of the dataset increases its utility.

CONCLUSION

Despite the limitations inherent to the dataset, the amount of freely accessible information and the level of insight provided make AgInjuryNews a valuable resource for agricultural injury research.

An Assessment of Horse-Drawn Vehicle Incidents from U.S. News Media Reports within AgInjuryNews

Some old-order Anabaptist communities rely on animal-drawn vehicles for transportation and farm work. This research examines reports involving horse-drawn vehicles found in the AgInjuryNews dataset, which provides a publicly accessible collection of agricultural injury reports primarily gathered from news media. The goals of this research are to characterize the reports and to compare results with previous research to assess the utility of using AgInjuryNews to examine horse-drawn vehicle incidents. A total of 38 reports representing 83 victims were identified. Chi-square tests comparing victim and incident traits for fatal and nonfatal injuries were significant for the victim’s role in the incident, vehicle type, presence of a motor vehicle, rear-ending by a motor vehicle, spooked horses, a victim being run over or struck by a vehicle, and a victim being ejected or falling from a vehicle. Additional analysis of incidents involving horse-drawn farm equipment showed that a significantly higher proportion of off-road incidents were fatal compared to on-road incidents. The proportion of fatal injuries in the AgInjuryNews dataset was approximately 10 times higher than observed in a study using Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (DOT) data. Compared to previous research, the AgInjuryNews reports contained a higher proportion of incidents where a motor vehicle rear-ended a horse-drawn vehicle, and fewer cases of horse-drawn vehicles being struck by motor vehicles while crossing or entering a main road and making left turns. Reports of buggy crashes found in AgInjuryNews differed from those found in a Nexis Uni search in that the bulk of the articles from Nexis Uni referred to cases involving criminal charges for impaired driving or hit-and-run crashes. While it is evident that the reports included in the sample are incidents that media sources find compelling rather than comprehensive injury surveillance, it is possible to gain new insights using the AgInjuryNews reports.

Virtual reality for public health: a study on a VR intervention to enhance occupational injury prevention

BACKGROUND

Agriculture is one of the most hazardous occupations in the USA. Especially, tractor rollover incidents are the leading cause of farming-related injuries or deaths. This study examines the effect of a VR intervention (Virtual Reality Intervention for Safety Education; VRISE) on behavioral intentions for occupational safety and identifies a psychological mechanism that shows how the immersive technology works.

METHODS

VRISE was developed by a multidisciplinary team of agricultural educators, computer scientists and communication specialists. It was designed to provide a virtual environment where users practice tractor operation and try to avoid several rollover hazards. The participants (291 high school students) were recruited at the 2019 National Future Farmers Association Convention & Expo and randomly assigned to one of three conditions: two different types of control groups (Control1: No treatment group and Control2: 2D Screen group) and the treatment group.

RESULTS

Findings show that, through the immersive VR experience, the VR intervention enhanced perceived threat of tractor-related accidents which in turn, led to improved behavioral intentions for tractor safety.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings shed light on the effectiveness of a VR intervention to improve public health outcomes, especially in occupational safety education, where unsafe practices often result in injury and fatality.

Regional surveillance of medically-attended farm-related injuries in children and adolescents

Purpose

Due to numerous environmental hazards such as heavy machinery and large livestock, youth who live and work on farms are at high risk of injury, disability, and death. This study described a regional surveillance system for monitoring farm-related injuries in children and adolescents. As the risk of farm-related injuries are not exclusive to farm residents, trends in farm-related injuries over the previous 5 years were reported and compared between children/adolescents who did and did not live on farms in north-central Wisconsin.

Methods

A retrospective cohort of child and adolescent patients of the Marshfield Clinic Health System was assembled. Incident farm-related injuries, including from agricultural work or other activities in a farm environment, were extracted from medical records from 2017 through 2021. Generalized linear models were created to compare age- and sex-adjusted farm-related injury rates by year.

Results

There were 4,730 (5%) in-farm and 93,420 (95%) out-farm children and adolescents in the cohort. There were 65 incident farm-related injury cases in the in-farm group and 412 in the out-farm group. The annual incidence rate of farm-related injuries was higher in the in-farm group, but changes during the 5-year timeframe were not significant in either group. In the in-farm group, rates ranged from a high of 61.8 [95% confidence interval (CI): 38.3, 94.5] incident farm-related injuries per 10,000 children/adolescents in 2017 to a low of 28.2 (13.5, 51.9) injuries per 10,000 children/adolescents in 2018. In the out-farm group, rates ranged from 10.7 (8.3, 13.6) to 16.8 (13.7, 20.5) incident farm-related injuries per 10,000 children/adolescents per year between 2017 and 2021. The in-farm group had a higher proportion of injured males and heavy machinery injuries, while the out-farm group had more all-terrain vehicle injuries and pesticide poisonings.

Conclusion

Farm residency remains hazardous for children and adolescents, as injury rates were three times higher in the in-farm group and remained stable over 5 years. All-terrain vehicle injuries were high in both groups, and should be a priority in rural safety interventions. With additional adaptations to other states, this surveillance model could be scaled across other healthcare systems.

Agricultural youth injuries: An updated review of cases from U.S. news media reports, 2016-2021

Introduction

Fatal and non-fatal youth (ages 0-17) injuries in U.S. agriculture continue to be a significant public health concern. Despite sustained work and attention from federally supported research programming, we continue to observe an unacceptably high number of life-altering and life-ending traumatic injuries to youth in agricultural environments. Likewise, there is still a gap in stringent systematic agricultural injury and/or illness surveillance at the federal level. This paper will provide an updated review of child agricultural injuries from U.S. news media reports, expanding upon this author team's initial 2018 report.

Methods

Data collection from 2016 to 2021 occurred as part of the AgInjuryNews initiative, and data were coded according to the Farm and Agricultural Injury Classification (FAIC) system and the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS). The AgInjuryNews system primarily contains news media reports. Categorical variables were analyzed and compared using a chi-square test. In addition, the Jonckheere-Terpstra test for trend was used to test the yearly change in the number of youth injuries.

Results

We observed a general decrease in agricultural injuries compared to the original 2015-2017 dataset. Younger children (<5 years-old) and males were more often injured and more fatally injured than older children and females, respectively. Males and older victims were more likely to suffer an occupational-related injury compared to females and younger victims, respectively. Vehicles remained a major source of injuries, with tractors comprising 28%, and ATVs/UTVs comprising 26% of all injuries. Roadway incidents involving tractors and UTVs were less often fatal compared to non-roadway incidents, while ATVs were more fatal on roadways.

Discussion

This updated review shows childhood agricultural injuries and fatalities continue to be a major public health concern within the US. It is unclear if the trend downward in injuries is due to reporting, data capture methods, or a true decrease in injuries. These data continue to be of interest to stakeholders in academia, public health, government, and private industry-user groups who regularly and consistently seek this type of information, often from multiple data sources, including as registered users on AgInjuryNews.org. These data identify emerging issues within the industry and further inform national and international planning committees' work.

Structural Vulnerability and Occupational Injury Among Latinx Child Farmworkers in North Carolina

Children as young as ten-years-old can legally work as hired farm labor in the United States. In North Carolina, many hired children are part of the Latinx farmworker community. Agriculture is a hazardous industry, and child workers experience high rates of injury, illness, and mortality. As part of a community-based participatory research study, we draw from thirty in-depth interviews with Latinx child farmworkers aged ten to seventeen to describe their experiences of personal and observed workplace injury and close calls. Nearly all child workers had experienced or observed some form of injury, with several reporting close calls that could have resulted in severe injury or fatality. Overall, children reported a reactive approach to injury prevention and normalized pain as part of the job. Highlighting Latinx child farmworkers' structural "vulnerability, this analysis contextualizes understanding of workplace injury among this largely hidden population. We offer policy recommendations to protect and support these vulnerable workers.

Agricultural Fatalities in New York State from 2009-2018: Trends from the past Decade Gathered from Media Reports

OBJECTIVES

Agriculture remains one of the most dangerous industries in the United States. Fatal injury reports influence outreach and education training topics and assist in prioritizing research efforts and federal funding priorities. News stories of agricultural fatalities are routinely collected and cataloged by the New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health (NYCAMH).

METHODS

The database was queried for agricultural fatalities in New York State between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2018. Descriptive statistics were calculated based on a variety of factors including age, gender, geographic location, type of event, and source of injury. The 2017 Census of Agriculture data was used to calculate denominator data for persons at risk.

RESULTS

Over the ten-year period from 2009 to 2018, one hundred sixty-nine (169) people were killed in agricultural injury events in New York. The most frequent cause of fatality was tractor related incidents, comprising nearly half of all fatalities (44%). There were 14 deaths of children nine and younger and an additional 11 deaths of adolescents between 10-19 years old. Steuben County had the highest rate of fatal injury at 20.9/100,000 FTE, followed by Jefferson County at 19.4/100,000 FTE.

CONCLUSIONS

While the rates of workers killed on the job have dramatically dropped in many industries, agricultural fatalities remain stubbornly elevated above the all-worker fatality rate of 3.5/100,000 FTE. These data, along with non-fatal injury data, should be used to guide prevention and intervention activities. Such loss of life should underscore the tremendous stress the agricultural community is under, and serve to funnel resources to strengthen these communities, businesses and workers.

Protecting the future: Fatal incidents on Australian farms involving children (2001-2019)

OBJECTIVES

To assess the demographic and causal factors, plus trends in rates of fatal farm incidents involving children (<15 years) in Australia over the 2001-2019 period.

DESIGN

A descriptive retrospective epidemiological study of the National Coronial Information System.

SETTING

Australia.

PARTICIPANTS

Cases involving children (<15 years), where incidents have occurred on a farm (1 January 2001-31 December 2019).

RESULTS

There has been essentially no change in the fatality rate for farm-related child injury deaths across Australia in the 2001-2019 period (-0.009/year). Men and children aged 0-4 years were significantly more likely to be involved in these incidents. Most cases were recreational in nature (81%), with seven agents (water bodies, quads [all-terrain vehicles], tractors, utes, cars, motorbikes and horses), accounting for 75% of cases. Water bodies were responsible for over 31% of deaths.

CONCLUSION

The lack of progress addressing child farm injury mortality requires urgent attention. The overall rates and pattern of injury-related deaths have stagnated, necessitating new and innovative approaches to address the issue. The emerging National Injury Prevention Plan might provide scope to improve the focus on and implementation of evidence-based approaches.

Agricultural Safety Comic Book for Latinx Migrant Families: Development and Evaluation

INTRODUCTION

Comic books and graphic novels have been used in health education. The youth of migrant and seasonal agricultural workers are highly vulnerable to the health hazards associated with agricultural work and the migrant workers' itinerant home environment.

METHOD

The purpose of the study was to create a bilingual, culturally specific educational comic book to inform families of safety issues in youth hand-harvesting agricultural work and provide anticipatory guidance safety tips for agricultural work camp residence. In a mixed-methods design, a multistate and multidisciplinary team used focus groups to obtain the voice of potential users regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the comic book prototype and scales on satisfaction, helpfulness, and usability.

RESULTS

Focus group participants contributed constructive criticism to modify the prototype. Quantitative surveys found the comic book to be satisfactory, helpful, and highly usable.

DISCUSSION

This report describes the steps in the creation of the comic book that can be used for health promotion education.

Agriculture-related Injuries: Discussion in Canadian Media

Objectives: This study examined news media reporting on farm injuries in Canada for the occurrence of prevention messages and factors related to whether an event was reported in more than one article. Methods: This study used a media database maintained by the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA), which stores publicly available news media reports of agricultural injuries and fatalities in Canada. Media reports were obtained for the years 2010 through 2017. Reports were coded as whether they reported a fatal or non-fatal injury, age and gender of those affected, urban or rural media, as well as whether they involved machinery, or were in French. Logistic regression was used to determine which variables predicted an event being reported more than once, and whether a report included a prevention message. Results: The database identified 856 relevant articles. Only 6.3% of the articles included a prevention message, and 34.7% were duplicate articles. Fatal injuries were more likely to be reported in multiple articles (odds ratio: 2.44). There was also significant variation in the occurrence of multiple reports across the years of the study. Prevention messages were more likely to occur when at least one child or female victim was involved in an event. However, only year of publication remained significantly associated with the occurrence of a prevention message in multivariable regression (odds ratio: 0.85). Conclusion: Prevention messages are rare in media reporting of farm injuries and are decreasing over time. Improved reporting is needed to aid in farm injury prevention.

Hired Latinx child farm labor in North Carolina: The demand-support-control model applied to a vulnerable worker population

BACKGROUND

US government child labor policies allow children as young as age 10 to be hired as workers on farms not operated by family members. Children may face substantial health risks in an industry known for high worker morbidity and mortality rates, due to high demands for productivity, and low control and little support because of the organization of the workplace. This paper examines how child farmworkers in North Carolina experience their work situation.

METHODS

In-depth interviews conducted in 2016 with 30 Latinx child farmworkers, ages 10 to 17, were analyzed using concepts from the demand-control-support model. All had worked as either migrant or seasonal hired farmworkers within the past year.

RESULTS

Children reported planting, cultivating, and harvesting crops including fruits, vegetables, and tobacco. The crew leader supervisory system, piece-rate pay, and coworker pressure produced significant demands to work quickly and take risks including lifting heavy loads, operating mechanical equipment, and working in excessive heat. Children had little control over work to counter demands they experienced; and they labored in a state of fear of firing, wage theft, and other sanctions. Support was variable, with younger children more likely to experience family and coworker support than older children.

CONCLUSIONS

The high demands with limited control and, for some, little support, that these children experience place them at risk and show the possibility of injury and exploitation. Future research should systematically document the occupational injury and illness of hired child farmworkers, and consider whether changes in labor policy are warranted.