Farming-related injury – a special challenge

By Phil Byass, 4th Year, HYMS

Picture: Google Maps

Some headlines…

Epidemiology of farm-related accidents

• Non-fatal injury – grossly under-reported, especially in self-employed (c. 5% report rate?)

• Major injury – 242/100,000 employees sustained major injury = 2x any other industry

• Fatalities - Less than 1.5% employed in agriculture, yet accounts for 15-20% of work-related fatality

• 436 fatalities in last 10 years (32% employees, 56% self-employed, 12% members of public)

• Among self-employed fatalites, a quarter were over 65• i.e. 43 fatalities each year – nearly 1 per week!

Source: Health & Safety Executive

Causes of major injury and death• Transport (being run over or vehicle overturns, includes

tractors, forklifts, quad-bikes etc.) – 26%• Falls (through fragile roofs, ladders, trees etc.) – 16%• Struck by moving or falling objects (bales, trees, etc.) - 16%• Asphyxiation/drowning - 10% (e.g. falls into grain-bin)• Livestock-related fatalities - 10%• Direct contact with machinery - 8% (e.g. amputations from

threshers, augers, PTO shafts etc.)• Trapped by something collapsing

or overturning - 6%• Burns e.g. combine fires – 5%• Contact with electricity - 3% PTO shaft: particularly problematic

Types of farm-related injury

• Minor - cuts and bruises• Severe - deep wounds and fractures• Permanent – amputations and spinal cord

injury• Fatal injury

Causes of farm-related ill-health

• Occupational related e.g. ‘Farmer’s lung’ • Pesticide poisoning • Zoonotic infections e.g. TB• Musculoskeletal problems from repetitive

movements or uncomfortable driving position

Farm injury – a special challenge

• High proportion of self-employed and family-based farms

• Self-employed numbers increased as workforce declined due to mechanisation and reduced need for employees e.g. our farm: 8 workers/foremen in 1960 to just Dad in 2009

• Increasing age of self-employed, especially with less pressure on young to ‘take over’ (12% of fatalities in over 65s)

STRUCTURAL: ageing workforce, self-employment, migrant

workers & language barriers, increased public access to

farmland

ENVIORNMENTAL: time (often no daylight) and adverse

weather conditions e.g. wet harvest

ECONOMIC: low productivity, marginal returns, low

investment; especially in health/safety measures

TECHNICAL: naturally hazardous environments;

heavy machinery, poor maintenance.

BEHAVIOURAL/CULTURAL: culture of resourcefulness, unwise risk

taking and unsafe practices, resistance to officialdom; see

regulation and red tape as a burden

INADEQUEATE TRAINING: particularly in the middle-aged

and elderly sections of the farming community

HISTORIC LACK OF INTEREST in the industry on health and safety

FARM INJURY

Farm injury – a special challenge

SEASONAL: greater workload and pressures in narrower

timeframe i.e. harvest

WORKING ALONE in hazardous conditions

Prevention

• No simple fix – needs shift in culture • New generation of farmers brought up in ‘age’ of

health and safety• Cochrane review of RCTs and case-control:No evidence for educational interventions

(included leaflets, safety training days, presentations by injured farmers)

Evidence for financial incentives offered to farmers to bring about change

Source: Rautiainen et. Al (2009)

Prevention

• As of 1st October 2012, HSE now charge £124/hour for any accident investigations or ‘interventions’ in farm safety (FFI)

• Shifts costs of implementing safer environments from public purse direct to individual farmer

• Farmers urged to avoid these costs

Source: Health & Safety Executive

References• Painting: Nora Othic, Ashby Hodge Gallery of American Art. • Health and Safety Executive: http://www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture/hsagriculture.htm• Guidance on FFI: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/hse47.pdf• Rautiainen R. et al (2009). Interventions for preventing injuries in the agricultural

industry. The Cochrane Library. Issue 3.