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Farm Safety Association, Inc.
Aging is a naturally occurring process that has important
implications for agricultural safety and health.
Although many senior farmers and farm workers make some allowances
for age-related reductions in physical strength, speed, agility,
sight and hearing, they can no longer handle some routine work
tasks.
Injury data and anecdotal evidence suggest that senior farmers
become more susceptible to work-related injuries as they move
into their 60s.
Age-related sensory and physical impairments occur among senior
farm operators at various rates. Eyesight, hearing, balance,
muscle strength, and reaction time may remain good for some
individuals who are well beyond age 65, while becoming significantly
poorer in others.
As a person ages, there is a gradual decline in the ability
of the eye to detect normal environmental stimuli. Because visual
stimuli create awareness and guide information processing and
reactions, impaired eyesight increases risk for senior farmers.
The ability to interact safely with the farm environment is
highly dependent on the ability to see objects clearly at different
distances, distinguish colors, quickly adapt to changing light
conditions, and focus both eyes on an object.
Generally, to see objects as clearly as they did when they were
age 20, many 45-year-olds need four times as much light. By
age 60, the amount of light required to see clearly is double
that needed by 45-year-olds.
Older individuals routinely work in situations with inadequate
lighting.
They may operate farm machinery on overcast days and at dusk
or at night. They may work inside darkened hay mows and grain
storage, and climb and descend stairs in dimly lit buildings.
Another change associated with aging is hearing loss. All people
eventually suffer some hearing loss as a result of aging, ear
disease, and exposure to loud noises.
In addition to normal hearing loss, studies suggest that farm
workers of all ages have higher levels of noise-induced hearing
loss than the general population.
Such losses result from excessive exposure to loud noise from
tractors, field and farmstead machinery, animals, and other
sources.
Senior farmers who have difficulty hearing words or sounds may
not be able to detect warning signals, such as the sounding
of an automobile horn, the approach of a fast-moving animal,
or the warning yell of a coworker. Hearing loss in each of these
instances may lead directly to a fatality.
An individual's sense of balance is controlled by specialized
structures (the vestibular system) located in the inner ear.
The structures provide information about the position of the
head and also sense the speed and direction of body movements.
With aging, the vestibular system becomes less effective in
sensing body position and movement, thereby increasing the potential
risk of falls for older persons.
A vestibular system whose function has been impaired may also
result in the sensation of dizziness in some individuals, again
putting senior persons at risk for falls.
Some situations in which the loss of balance and a feeling of
dizziness increase the risk of injury for senior farmers include:
- Driving and other tasks where a feeling of dizziness
may affect concentration.
- Walking across an uneven surface such as hay in a haymow,
or moving about in a small fishing boat.
- Dizziness or a loss of balance around tractors and farm
machinery poses a particularly serious safety risk of seniors
falling into moving or unguarded parts of the equipment.
Flexibility in the joints of the shoulders, arms and legs; adequate
muscle strength; and good posture also are important functional
criteria for senior farm worker's safety.
The process of aging causes collagen, the main supportive protein
in the skin, tendons, joint cartilage, and connective tissues,
to become irregular in shape.
The irregularly shaped collagen may reduce spine flexibility
and create pain and discomfort in many working situations, such
as:
- The manipulation of tractor and machinery controls.
- Lifting, carrying, and loading objects.
- Mounting and dismounting machinery; and climbing up and
down stairs.
Another cause of limited joint movement
in senior farmers is arthritis in the joints of the knees,
hips, and fingers.
- Reduced capability to move any of these joints may limit
a tractor operator's ability to reach and manipulate controls.
- It also may reduce an operator's ability to turn his
or her head or neck far enough to monitor pulled machinery
or check for traffic on the highway before making a turn
or changing lanes.
- Reduced muscle strength often compounds joint impairments
like arthritis, rheumatism, bursitis, and frozen shoulder.
- Any one of these impairments, or a combination of them,
may significantly increase the risk of injury to senior
farmers by decreasing and delaying their responses to hazardous
situations.
Generally speaking, reducing or controlling injury risks and
hazards is not any different for senior farmers than for any
other age group of farmers.
It is better to make physical changes to the working environment
to completely remove or lessen exposure to hazards than to rely
upon an individual's behavior around the hazard.
Suggestions that seem particularly pertinent to senior farmers'
safety and health include:
- Increase lighting levels in barns and other buildings
to accommodate the vision needs of older farmers.
- Ensure that all steps, stairs, and handrails are of excellent
quality and well lighted with switches at both ends of stairs
and by all entrances
- Put non-slip surfaces on walkways and steps where possible.
- Have easily operated or maneuvered fence gates, building
doors, and animal handling devices.
- Use properly fitted and easily accessible personal protection
devices.
With the large percentage of tractor-related fatalities. It
is imperative that senior farmers pay special attention to their
ability to operate a tractor safely.
- Consider trading in older, less safe tractors for newer,
safer models.
- Retro-fit older tractors, when possible, with ROPS and
a seat belt
- Ensure that all tractor lights, brakes, shields, tires,
etc., are in place, functional, and well maintained
- Refrain from carrying passengers; consider limiting tractor
operation to daylight hours and roads with little vehicular
traffic.
- The safest tractor for senior farmers is a newer tractor
with an enclosed cab and ROPS.
- Senior farmers should be aware of over-the- counter drugs
and prescription medications that may reduce alertness,
decrease the sense of balance, or interfere in some other
way with expected work tasks.
Get adequate rest, eat nutritiously and wear proper work clothes
and footwear.
- Take work breaks and always stop when you are tired.
- Every farmer also should know the symptoms of heart attack
and stroke.
- Don't do farm activity which may be risky for you.
- Senior farmers also should obtain regular medical check-ups
(at least once a year) for vision, hearing, balance, and
muscular range and mobility.
- They should consult with a family physician about how
physical limitations may affect safety and health at work.
- There are benefits that come with age. Older farmers
have the wisdom and experience that many younger workers
lack. Use the enhanced judgment and skill to compensate
for the decreases in reaction time and muscle strength that
are inevitable.
Disclaimer and Reproduction Information: Information in NASD
does not represent NIOSH policy. Information included in NASD
appears by permission of the author and/or copyright holder.
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The information and recommendations contained in this publication
are believed to be reliable and representative of contemporary
expert opinion on the subject material. The Farm Safety Association
Inc. does not guarantee absolute accuracy or sufficiency of
subject material, nor can it accept responsibility for health
and safety recommendations that may have been omitted due to
particular and exceptional conditions and circumstances.
Copyright
© 2002 Farm Safety Association Inc.
22-340 Woodlawn Road West, Guelph, Ontario (519) 823-5600.
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