USDA releases two reports on farm safety stats
By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released two reports on farm safety - “Agricultural Safety: 2009 Injuries to Adults on Farms” and “2011 Farm and Ranch Safety Survey”.
One of the reports found that in 2009 there were 42,000 injuries (work-related) on U.S. farms. Injuries are down 41 per cent compared to 2004. The following are some key findings from the reports:
- 69 percent of those injured were men.
- Tractors are the leading cause of fatalities in agriculture.
- 84 percent of all work-related farm injuries occurred to adults who were part of a family farm, compared to hired workers.
- Animals represented 21 percent of the injuries.
- 78 percent of the animal-related injuries were with horses or cattle.
- Other farm-related injuries predominantly included all-terrain vehicles and storage facilities.
- The average age was 52.2 years, which is up from 47.8 years reported in 2001.