Injuries in agriculture – injury severity and mortality

Global Patterns of Agricultural Machine and Equipment Injuries- A Systematic Literature Review

OBJECTIVES

Agriculture is the one of the hazardous industries in the world. Though there is significant investment in agricultural safety, machine injuries continue to be the leading cause of agriculture injuries worldwide. The objective of this study was to provide a comprehensive literature review on global patterns in agricultural machine injuries and establish a framework for future research aimed at addressing safety concerns in the agriculture sector.

METHODS

The existing scholarship on farm machine injuries can be categorized into three main areas: a) farming machine/equipment injuries, b) factors associated with these injuries, and c) injury patterns.

RESULTS

Overall, the findings highlight that farm tractors are the primary source of injuries for both fatal and non-fatal incidents regardless of region. Other common sources of injuries were harvesting machinery and hand/power tools in Asia, ATVs in North America and woodworking machinery in Europe. Inadequate training in operating farm equipment was reported as the most likely factor contributing to machine-related injuries. Lastly, the patterns of injuries vary based on the interaction between humans and machinery. For instance, rollovers often result in severe head and fracture injuries, while thresher incidents can lead to amputation of hands, arms, and other body parts.

CONCLUSION

Addressing these injuries by implementing safety protocols will not only enhance the well-being of farm workers but potentially attract more workers to the sector, which is currently experiencing labor shortages due to machine-related injuries.

Clinical characteristics and outcomes of injuries in agricultural and nonagricultural workers visiting the emergency department: a propensity-matched analysis

OBJECTIVE

Agriculture is a hazardous industry. However, previous studies have focused on injuries to agricultural workers without comparison with injuries to nonagricultural workers. Therefore, we compared the clinical characteristics and outcomes of injuries reported at an emergency department (ED) between agricultural workers and nonagricultural workers.

METHODS

We established a prospective ED-based agricultural injury surveillance system at a tertiary university hospital. Adult patients visiting the ED for an injury were divided into farmer and non-farmer groups depending on their engagement with agriculture. Using an adjusted multivariate analysis and propensity score matching (age, sex, inhabitant, and insurance type), we compared the clinical characteristics and outcomes of injuries between the farmer and non-farmer groups.

RESULTS

In total, 38,556 injured adult patients (37,746 in the non-farmer group and 810 in the farmer group) were available for the unmatched sample analysis. The 1,620 matched subjects were equally classified after one-to-one nearest-neighbor propensity score matching. A multivariate logistic regression analysis of the unmatched sample revealed higher adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for intensive care unit admission (adjusted OR, 1.752; P=0.003) and overall surgery (adjusted OR, 1.870; P<0.001) in the farmer group. In contrast, univariate logistic regression analyses of the propensity score-matched sample found a higher OR in the farmer group only for overall surgery (OR, 1.786; P<0.001).

CONCLUSION

Injuries of agricultural workers had higher odds only of requiring surgery; differences in injury-related mortality between groups were not statistically significant in either the matched or unmatched sample analyses.

The hidden dangers of staying home: a London trauma unit experience of lockdown during the COVID-19 virus pandemic

INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in reconfiguration of the NHS. Elective services were stopped and trauma services focused on decreasing patient-clinician interactions and managing injuries nonoperatively wherever possible. The everyday life of the general public changed dramatically with the introduction of a national lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This paper looks at the experience of a South West London trauma unit.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

All patients reviewed in fracture clinic and by the orthopaedic on-call team between 23 March to 23 April 2020 were included. Data on the mechanism of injury and whether this was a usual activity, the injury sustained and its management were collected.

RESULTS

A total of 167 trauma injuries were seen, compared with 735 new patients with injuries in the previous month. The number of trauma operations completed decreased by 38%; 55% of injuries occurred inside the home and 44% outside the home during daily exercise. Some 31% of injuries were secondary to a new activity taken up during lockdown. Three open fractures and two polytrauma cases were seen that would have normally been managed at the local major trauma centre.

CONCLUSION

Overall, both the number of injuries seen and trauma operations completed during the enforced lockdown decreased. This is probably due to a change in the way the general public are living their lives, and the reconfigurations within the NHS in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an interesting time within trauma and orthopaedic departments, as they continue to adapt to the changing injuries and working environment.

Agro-industrial accidents linked to length of service, operation site and confidence in employer adherence to safety rules

Background

The agriculture sector consistently ranks among the most hazardous occupational industries globally with high risk of job-related injuries, illnesses, disability, and death. In 2015, the agricultural fatal work injury rate in the United States was 22.8 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers; seven times the all-worker fatal injury rate of 3.4 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers. In this study we identified the factors that are associated with workplace accident and injuries at the Goldtree (SL) Limited Company - a private international agro-industrial palm kernel oil company operating in eastern Sierra Leone.

Methods

This is a descriptive research that made use of both qualitative and quantitative research techniques to collect and analyse agro-industrial occupation-related accident and injuries of workers attached to the Goldtree (SL) Limited Company, an international palm kernel oil producing and marketing company in Sierra Leone. We analyzed the responses of 100 workers at the Goldtree (SL) Limited Company that are related to their work safety, adherence to work safety guidelines as well as working habit.

Results

Thirty nine (39.0%) of the workers interviewed in this study said they had been involved in some forms of occupational accident; (33.3%) of those involved in some form of occupational-related accidents have been working in the company for 3–5 years, 22.0% have been working at the company for at least 2 years; 7.7% have been working for 6–8 years (X² = 9.88, p-value = 0.02).

Conclusion

Workers who have spent few years in the job, and those workers who have confidence that management is committed to addressing health and safety issues, believed that their working tools were in excellent condition, or agreed that they have the rights and responsibilities for an effective workplace health and safety system have decreased odds of experiencing occupational-related accidents or injury at the study site.

Multisource surveillance for non-fatal work-related agricultural injuries

Objectives: Development of a state-wide comprehensive surveillance system for non-fatal work-related farm injuries, since non-fatal injuries that occur to the self-employed (i.e., many farm owners/operators), family workers, federal government workers and small farms with fewer than 11 employees are not included in the Bureau of Labor Statistics employer-based survey used to produce the U.S. National statistics of work-related injuries.Methods: In 2015 and 2016, inpatient discharge summaries, emergency department, and hospital-based outpatient clinic records from all 134 of Michigan's hospitals with ICD-9 codes 989.0-.1, E827.0-.9, E849.1, E906.8, E919.0 or ICD-10 codesT65.0-.1, V80, Y92.7, W55.1-.4, W30 were reviewed to identify non-fatal work-related farm injuries.Results: We identified 1,559 non-fatal work-related farm injury incidents that occurred in 1,525 individuals, with 74% being among men. The most common parts of the body injured were an upper limb (38.2%) and a lower limb (23.7%). The most common types of injury were contusions (26.4%) and fractures (19.9%). Owners/operators accounted for 44.1% and hired hands for 42.9% of individuals injured. Injuries caused by cows were the predominant cause: 472 (31.5%) of all the injuries. Dairy farms accounted for 39.6% of all cases for which the farm type was recorded.Conclusion: A comprehensive system to identify non-fatal work-related farm injuries among all individuals who work on a farm, including owner/operators, family members and migrant and seasonal farm laborers, was implemented using hospital, emergency department and hospital-based outpatient clinic medical records. Such a system is important to be able to identify hazards and target prevention.

Work related injury among Saudi Star Agro Industry workers in Gambella region, Ethiopia; a cross-sectional study

Background

Work injury is an important cause of morbidity and mortality, much of these work injuries burden can be found in industry required heavy manual work such as, agriculture and fishers. Hence; agriculture is consistently cited as one of the most hazardous industry in the world. The objective of this study isto assess the magnitude and associated factors of work related injury among Saudi Star Agro Industry workers in Gambella region, South West Ethiopia.

Methods

An institutional based cross-sectional study design was conducted on Saudi Star Agro Industry located in Gambella region, from February - June 2014 on 449 randomly selected workers who arestratifiedby working department. Anobservation checklist, factory clinical records and a structured interview questioner were used as a data collection tools.

Result

The prevalence of work related injury was 36.7%. Marital status [AOR;1.69, 95%; CI;(1.1–2.7)], service year [AOR;1.9,95%; CI;(1.17–3.1)], working more than 48 h per week [AOR;9.87, 95%; CI;(5.95–16.28)],safety training [AOR;3.38, 95%;CI;1.14–9.98)], regular health checkup [AOR; 12.29, 95%; CI (9–51.35)] and usage of personal protective equipment [AOR; 2.36, 95%; CI; (1.06–5.25)] were significant factors for the occurrence of work related injury.

Conclusion

The prevalence of work related injury was high. Working hours, safety training and regular health checkup increases the risk of work related injury.

Farm-related trauma in the west of Ireland: an occupational hazard

BACKGROUND

Farm fatalities in Ireland remain at their highest recorded levels despite the introduction and implementation of several farm safety initiatives during recent years.

AIMS

The aim of this study was to examine all farm-related morbidity and mortality presenting to a general hospital in the west of Ireland.

METHODS

A consecutive series of all farm-related fatal and non-fatal injuries presenting to our institution over a 7-year period (2005-2011) was compiled by examining the hospital inpatient enquiry system and mortuary records.

RESULTS

One hundred and thirty patients were admitted to Mayo General Hospital with non-fatal farm-related injuries during the study period. This cohort was comprised 104 males and 26 females with an average age at presentation of 46 (range 19-75) years. The most common mechanism of non-fatal injury was animal attack. The mean length of hospital stay, mean length of ICU stay and total number of bed days used were 5.2, 5.3 and 677 days, respectively. There were seven farm-related fatalities during the same study period. Four were livestock-related, two due to machinery accident and one due to fall of a heavy object. The post-mortem findings were analysed in each case.

CONCLUSIONS

This analysis outlines the incidence and severity of fatal and non-fatal injuries sustained in the farming workplace and presenting to a general hospital serving a rural catchment population. Greater awareness of our results may help reduce the longterm incidence and magnitude of such injuries.