Safety in Agriculture Stats and Facts
FACTS
- The most common causes of death in agriculture are:
- transport – being struck by moving vehicles
- being struck by a moving or falling object, eg bales, trees etc
- falls from height
- asphyxiation or drowning
- contact with machinery
- injury by an animal
- being trapped by something collapsing or overturning
- contact with electricity, nearly two-thirds of which involves overhead power lines (OHPLs).
- The most common causes of non-fatal injuries in:
- slip, trip or fall on the same level
- falls from height
- contact with machinery
- being injured by an animal.
- being struck by moving, including flying or falling, objects
- Farmers and farm workers suffer from increased rates of respiratory diseases, noise-induced hearing loss, skin disorders, certain cancers, chemical toxicity, and heat-related illnesses.
STATS
Who’s at Risk?
- Approximately 2,112,626 full-time workers were employed in production agriculture in the US in 2019.
- Approximately 1.4 to 2.1 million hired crop workers are employed annually on crop farms in the US.
- An estimated 893,000 youth under 20 years of age resided on farms, with about 454,000 youth performing farm work.
Fatalities
- In 2019, 410 farmers and farm workers died from a work-related injury, resulting in a fatality rate of 19.4 deaths per 100,000 workers. Transportation incidents, which include tractor overturns were the leading cause of death for these farmers and farm workers.
- The most effective way to prevent tractor overturn deaths is the use of a Roll-Overprotective Structure (ROPS) with a seatbelt. In 2014, 62% of tractors used on farms in the US were equipped with ROPS. If ROPS were placed on all tractors used on US farms manufactured since the mid-1960’s, the prevalence of ROPS-equipped tractors could be increased to over 80%.