1998 Childhood Agricultural Injury Survey (CAIS)
CAIS was conducted using a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) survey instrument. Randomly selected farming operations across the United States were contacted by eight U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistical Service (USDA/NASS) calling centers during February and March of 1999. The CAIS was conducted in these winter months to increase the response rate of the survey. The sample selection and sampling frame information for the survey was provided by USDA/NASS through an interagency agreement. All agricultural production operations in the NASS area sampling frame, excluding large swine confinement operations, were in the population of study. NASS drew all samples, conducted all telephone contacts to the farm operations, entered all data, and provided all sampling frame information required for the NIOSH sampling design.
For the survey, a farm was defined as any operation of $1,000 or more of gross agricultural production within a calendar year; it included both crop and livestock operations. An injury was defined as any condition that resulted in 4 hours or more of restricted activity (e.g., a person could not perform work or other normal duties, missed work, or missed school), or a condition that required professional medical treatment. In this survey, a youth was defined as any person under age 20. Household youths were defined as all youths who resided on the farm. Hired farm workers were defined as youths who were hired directly by the farm operator (excluding contract laborers) to work on the farm but were not household members. Visitors were defined as all other youths who were on the farm but were not household members or hired workers.
An agricultural work-related injury was defined as any injury meeting the above definition that occurred while performing work on the farm associated with the farm business, including chores. Nonwork injuries were defined as injuries occurring on the farm that were not due to farm work. The survey excluded injuries to contractors working for the farm operation or injuries that occurred to youths off the farm property. The categorical injury variables of source of injury and event or exposure were coded from narrative injury descriptions using the American National Standards Institute Z16.2–1995 classification system [Toscano et al. 1996].
All information provided in the survey was self-reported by the farm
operator, spouse, or the injured youths if they were aged 16 or older.
As such, responses to items such as age and the cause of the injury
event were subject to the interpretation of the respondent. Although
the total number of childhood agricultural lost-time injuries was requested
for the calendar year 1998, descriptive information was only requested
for the four most recent injury events.
A stratified random sample of 50,000 farm operations was drawn to provide
estimates for the study population. The strata for the sampling design
were the four Census Bureau geographic regions. An equal sample allocation
of 12,500 farms was selected in each region. A farm was considered to
be a valid member of the sample regardless of whether youths were on
the farm in 1998. This was necessary to allow for meaningful estimates
of both injuries and the number of youths on farms for the various youth
populations covered in the survey (i.e., household youths, youths directly
hired to work on the farm, and youths visiting the farm).
For further information, contact
Surveillance and Field Investigations Branch
Division of Safety Research
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
1095 Willowdale Rd, MS H–1808
Morgantown, WV 26505
Telephone: 304–285–5916
