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William
J. Becker
University of Florida IFAS Extension
The agricultural work force in the United States totals 3.2
million, which equates to 2.7 percent of our total work force.
However, there are 1,300 deaths and 120,000 disabling injuries
annually, or 12.5 percent of all workplace deaths and 7.1 percent
of all disabling injuries. Both of these rates -- in deaths
and disabling injuries -- exceed the rates of the construction
and transportation industries, and only mining has a higher
death rate. Unfortunately, agriculture is one of the more hazardous occupations in the United States.
Florida
contributes to this problem. Over the seven past years there
have been over 140 confirmed deaths due to work-related agricultural
accidents, an average of twenty per year. During this seven-year
period there has been an average of 3,340 serious injuries
per year. (A serious injury is one in which the injured person
misses a week or more of work.)
This
report analyzes the work-related deaths and injuries in Florida
agriculture during 1992. The data for this analysis are from
the Division of Workers' Compensation, supplemented by newspaper
clippings and from dialogue with county extension personnel.
The
fatality data are for all known agricultural-related deaths.
The information on serious injuries is incomplete, since injuries
reported only to the Division of Workers' Compensation are
included. Many small family farm operations are not required
to provide workers' compensation insurance; therefore, these
injuries go unreported. It is estimated that 25 percent of
all serious agricultural injuries go unreported.
Table
1. Types of accidents resulting in agricultural-related
fatalities in Florida in 1992 |
Type
of Accident
|
|
Number
of Fatalities
|
Tractor-Machinery |
13 |
Motor
Vehicle |
5* |
Logging
- Tree Service |
3 |
Aircraft |
2 |
Shooting |
1 |
Burns |
1 |
Natural
Causes or Unknown |
10 |
Totals |
35 |
*
While four of these motor vehicle accidents were work-related,
they are not considered to be agricultural accidents;
rather, they are classified as accidents. |
A total
of 35 individuals were identified who were killed in some type
of agricultural accident or who died as a result of natural
causes during hours while employed in an agricultural occupation.
Only one fatality was to an individual not employed or directly
involved in agriculture. This was a female passenger who was
killed when the pick-up truck in which she was riding ran into
a feed wagon being towed by a tractor on a public road.
Ten
of the fatalities were listed as natural causes or unknown
when the original notice of injury, the source of most fatality
data, was completed. Subsequent investigation may conclude
that some of these fatalities might have had a work-related
cause. If these ten fatalities are not determined to be work-related
and the five motor vehicle fatalities are considered (counted)
as traffic fatalities, there were twenty fatalities which
were agricultural work-related fatalities in Florida during
992.
Thirteen
of these fatalities were tractor-machinery accidents. Five
were from tractor-equipment overturns, five were runover type
accidents and three were crushed between a moving and fixed
object.
The
three fatalities in tree service or logging operations were
one crushed by a falling log, the second by a falling tree
and the third fell from a tree. The remaining four included
two aircraft crashes, one died of burns and the other was
shot by a co-worker.
Table
1 summarizes the agricultural, work and non-work fatalities
during 1992 in Florida. Table 2 provides some information
on each of these fatal accidents.
Table
2. Agricultural Fatalities in Florida -- 1992 |
County
(Date)
| Employer
| Employee
| Cause
|
Taylor
(01-10-92) |
T
& M Logging - Perry |
Fred
Weaver |
Crushed
-- log rolled off truck |
Hendry
(01-11-92) |
D
& K Harvesting - La Belle |
Jean
Monpremier |
Motor
vehicle public road |
Polk
(01-11-92) |
Maxime
Air, Inc. - Frostproof |
Harry
McCollum |
Airplane
crash |
Palm
Beach (02-20-92) |
Talisman
Sugar Corp. - South Bay |
Unknown |
Cane
truck overturn public road |
Martin
(03-04-92) |
Waldrep
& Legg Dairy - Indiantown |
James
Smith |
Natural
causes |
Pasco
(04-27-92) |
P
& H Dairy - Zephyrhills |
Deborah
Neal non-employee |
Truck
hit tractor & feed wagon -- public road |
Suwannee
(05-01-92) |
Jym
Seago Logging - Madison |
Willie
Morgan |
Natural
causes |
Hernando
(05-06-92) |
Orange
Kare, Inc. - Brooksville |
David
Gonzalez |
Thrown
from tractor, hit a tree |
Sarasota
(05-28-92) |
Cadys
Grove Service - Sarasota |
Jessie
Stanley |
Motor
vehicle public road |
Escambia
(06-09-92) |
Carl
Peterson - Byrnesville |
Bruce
McCurdy |
Tractor
overturn road embankment |
DeSota
(06-16-92) |
Arthur
L. Smith - Nocatee |
Arthur
L. Smith Self-employed |
Tractor
passenger knocked off, runover |
Polk
(06-17-92) |
Dan
Weatherford - Lakeland |
Dan
Weatherford Self-employed |
Jump-starting
tractor, runover |
Lake
(06-24-92) |
Golden
Gem Grovers - Umatilla |
James
Simmon |
Between
tractor & mower -- runover |
Hendry
(06-26-92) |
ABC
Farms, Inc. - Immokalee |
Alonzo
Curry Manager |
Helicopter
crash |
Dade
(07-01-92) |
Bruce
Group Enterprises - Goalds |
Orlando
Williams |
Natural
causes |
Dade
(07-15-92) |
J
& V Farms - Miami |
Apello
Baldolado |
Natural
causes |
Hillsborough
(07-15-92) |
Apopka
Tree Service - Apopka |
Victor
Broome |
Citrus
topper overturned |
Hillsborough
(08-14-92) |
Tampa
Farm Service - Tampa |
Raymond
Barton |
Crushed
between tractor & dumpster |
Santa
Rosa (08-27-92) |
Alabama
Logging - Co. |
Henry
Bush |
Crushed
by falling tree |
Dade
(08-31-92) |
Jackies
Parnel Sod Co. - Miami |
Jacqueline
Koger co-owner |
Motor
vehicle |
Polk
(09-01-92) |
Etoile
Altman Groves - Ft. Meade |
L.D.
Moreland |
Tractor
overturn Natural causes? |
Polk
(09-02-92) |
Davey
Tree Expert Co. - Winter Park |
Damlton
Rush |
Fell
from tree |
St.
Lucie (09-09-92) |
Phillip
Hoeffner - Ft. Pierce |
Phillip
Hoeffner Self-employed |
Tractor
overturn canal bank |
Manatee
(10-08-92) |
Whisenate
Farms - Parrish |
Jose
Aquilar |
Natural
causes choked on food |
St.
Lucie (10-27-92) |
Stewart
Harvesting - Ft. Pierce |
Willie
Mitchell |
Natural
causes |
Palm
Beach (11-05-92) |
Osceola
Farms - Pahokee |
Llewelyn
Lemonious |
Crushed
by overturned cane wagon |
Palm
Beach (11-18-92) |
U.S.
Sugar Corp. - Clewiston |
Charles
Marshall |
Tractor
overturn canal bank |
Palm
Beach (11-25-92) |
New
Hope South, Inc. - South Bay |
Mackie
West |
Crushed
by equipment on lowboy |
Broward
(11-25-92) |
B
& S Tree Service - Davie |
Richard
Bena Owner |
Natural
causes |
Orange
(11-30-92) |
Roper
Grove Coop. - Winter Garden |
Bobbie
Davis |
Natural
causes banking trees |
St.
Lucie (12-02-92) |
Southeastern
Agricultural Service - Ft. Pierce |
Robert
Cade |
Shot
by co-worker |
Palm
Beach (12-07-92) |
Talisman
Sugar Corp. - South Bay |
Lamar
Phillips |
Tractor
overturn canal bank |
Collier
(12-08-92) |
Redi-Plants
- Naples |
Ralph
Brown |
Natural
causes |
Hendry
(12-28-92) |
U.S.
Sugar Corp. - Clewiston |
Jorge
Hernandez |
Burns |
Hendry
(12-29-92) |
D
& K Harvesting - La Belle |
James
Gilbert |
Natural
causes |
The Division of Workers' Compensation collects data on all serious
injuries incurred by employees provided with workers' compensation
insurance. In 1992, they reported 2,393 such injuries to agricultural
workers. While this number is unacceptable by most standards,
it is the lowest total in ten years. Serious injuries are those
which cause an employee to miss a week or more of work.
Landscape
and Horticultural Services, primarily those employed in lawn
and garden maintenance, continue to "lead the industry" in
the number of serious injuries. They accounted for 610 of
these injuries in 1992, over 25 percent of all the reported
serious injuries in agriculture.
This
occupational area was followed by Crop Services, those employees
primarily involved in crop harvesting. This area reported
407 serious injuries, 17 percent of the total.
These
two areas were followed by Fruit, Berry, Grape and Nut Production
-- in Florida this is primarily citrus production; and Livestock
Production -- primarily beef production. These four areas;
Landscape and Horticultural Services, Crop Services, Fruit
Production and Livestock Production accounted for 1,684 or
over 70 percent of the serious work related injuries in Florida
agriculture during 1992. Table 3 provides information on these
and other serious injuries by type of agricultural business.
Table
3. Number of Serious Agricultural Injuries by Type
of Agricultural Business -- 1992 |
Type
of Business
| Number
Serious Injuries
| Percent
of Total
|
Landscape
and Horticultural Services:
-Primarily lawn & garden maintenance |
610 |
25.5 |
Crop
Services:
-Primarily crop harvesting |
407 |
17.0 |
Fruit
Production:
-Primarily citrus production
-Includes berry, grape and nuts |
373 |
15.6 |
Livestock
Production:
-Primarily beef and hogs
-Excludes dairy and poultry |
294 |
12.3 |
Horticultural
Production:
-Primarily ornamental nursery products |
205 |
8.6 |
General
Crop Production:
-Includes cash grains, cotton, tobacco, sugar cane and
potatoes |
152 |
6.4 |
Vegetable
and Melon Production: |
93 |
3.9 |
Horse
Farms
-Production, training |
82 |
3.4 |
Animal
Services:
-Including veterinary services |
72 |
3.0 |
Dairy
Farms:
-Milk production, young stock |
57 |
2.4 |
Timber
Production and Services:
-Nursery and pulpwood only |
19 |
0.8 |
Poultry
Production:
-Broilers and eggs |
18 |
0.8 |
Fishing
and Fish Hatcheries |
11 |
0.5 |
TOTALS
| 2,393
| 100.2*
|
*
Variation due to rounding off of numbers |
Table
4. Percent of Serious Injuries by Age - 1992 |
Age
|
|
Percent
|
Under
20 |
5.0 |
20-24 |
18.0 |
25-29 |
17.5 |
30-34 |
13.5 |
35-39 |
12.0 |
40-45 |
10.5 |
45-49 |
10.0 |
50-54 |
7.0 |
55-59 |
5.0 |
60
or over |
1.5 |
Forty percent
of all serious injuries occur to employees under the age of
thirty (see Table 4). This would indicate that more effective
safety training and supervision is needed for younger employees.
After age thirty there is a steady decline in the percent of
serious injuries to the level of only 1.5 percent of all serious
injuries occurring to employees 60 years of age or older.
These
figures may also account for the high number of injuries in
Horticultural Services and Crop Services; two occupational
areas with a large percent of younger employees.
In previous
years the male to female ratio was provided. It is estimated
that there were four males injured for each female. The Division
of Workers' Compensation did not provide information by sex
for 1992.
If you
have an object or perform a task at a work-site, it is capable
of causing injury. As Table 5 indicates, thirty percent of
all serious injuries are due to improper or excessive bodily
motion or working surfaces. Bodily motion injuries are generally
associated with lifting, pulling, pushing activities; working
surfaces with slips, trips and falls.
Containers
of all types are the only other agent of injury associated
with more than five percent of all serious injuries. The twenty-five
percent for miscellaneous or unknown agents is to be expected
since the notice of injury form, from which this data is collected,
does not specifically ask for the agent of injury.
Anyone
who is truly concerned about controlling serious injuries
must solve the problem of sprains and strains and slips, trips
and falls. These types of accidents account for 58 percent
of all serious injuries.
We need
to consider any and all available means and methods to prevent
heavy and repeated lifting, pushing, pulling and reaching
-- those bodily motions which lead to sprains and strains.
We need to study our working surfaces -- outdoors, indoors,
on ladders, platforms, trucks, machines, etc. -- which lead
to slips, trips and falls. These are the accidents which often
result in sprains, strains, bruises, lacerations and fractures.
We need to solve these problems.
The
Notice of Injury Report, on which this analysis is based,
does not adequately address the nature of most injuries. It
may just say "The employee fell and injured his back." Therefore,
many of the injuries are recorded as "All other or unknown"
It would probably be a safe judgment to distribute this forty
percent among the other listed nature of injury categories
in proportion to the percent of each injury.
Nevertheless,
it is clear that sprains and strains are the major problem
with most of them being caused by improper bodily motion --
lifting, pulling and pushing and by slips, trips and falls.
The
lower back is the body part most frequently injured. Back
injuries are among the most costly injuries. The type of injury
is most often a sprain or strain which are also the most frequent
type of injury to the major joints of the body, the ankle,
knee and hip, wrist, elbow and shoulder.
Fatalities to agricultural workers in Florida continue to be
associated with motorized vehicles and machinery. Tractors and
machinery, motor vehicles and aircraft accounted for 21 of the
35 reported fatalities. Ten fatalities were either from natural
causes or the cause was undetermined. While all unsafe conditions
should be corrected, special attention must continue to be given
to tractor, machinery and motor vehicle safety.
Since
over 40 percent of all serious injuries to agricultural workers
occur to those employees in their teens and twenties, it is
imperative that extensive safety training be provided at the
time of employment and whenever a young employee is assigned
a new task. We must improve safety training and safety supervision
young and new employees.
Any
analysis of Tables 5, 6 and 7 should clearly identify the
weaknesses of our agricultural safety program. Our major problems
are sprains and strains caused by improper or excessive bodily
motions -- lifting, pushing and pulling and slips, trips and
falls. Review the agents of injury in Table 5. What are the
problems? Bodily motion and working surfaces are two. Review
the other agents of injury listed. Notice how many of these
are objects which we need to lift, pull or push.
Table
6 confirms our analysis of Table 5. Bodily motion -- lifting,
pushing and pulling and working surfaces lead to strains and
sprains, slips, trips and falls which account for nearly 60
percent of all serious injuries.
Then
review Table 7, Percent by Nature of Injury. Note that in
Table 6 sprains and strains accounted for 38 percent of all
serious injuries, while Table 6 reports that only 24 percent
are sprains and strains. Why? Because the Notice of Injury
Reports are not designed to effectively report the Nature
of Injury; therefore many of the sprains and strains end up
being recorded in the All other or Unknown category.
Finally,
review Table 8, Percent by Body Part Injured. The back and
our arm and leg joints account for a total of 42 percent of
all injuries. And the most frequent injury to the back and
joints are sprains and strains.
The
author is not recommending that we forget the importance of
safety training and supervision in the areas of tractors,
machinery, motor vehicles, pesticides and other chemicals,
hand or power tools, animals or in any other area. These safety
programs must continue and improve. However, until our safety
leaders, extension personnel, owners, managers, supervisors
and workers in agriculture recognize that our number one safety
problem is sprains and strains caused by lifting, pushing
and pulling or slips, trips and falls, our serious injury
problems will continue. Workers will continue to suffer, medical
costs will continue to climb, lost work days and lost productivity
will be a problem, and an effective safety program will remain
a dream.
We must
continue to PUT MORE SAFETY IN OUR PROGRAMS and a major emphasis
must be:
TO
PREVENT IMPROPER LIFTING, PUSHING AND PULLING,
TO PREVENT SLIPS, TRIPS AND FALLS,
TO PREVENT SPRAINS AND STRAINS, AND
TO PREVENT BACK AND JOINT INJURIES.
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NASD Review: 04/2002
This
document is
SS-AGE-35
, a series of the Agricultural Engineering Department, Florida
Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural
Sciences, University of Florida, Publication Date: January
1994.
William J. Becker, professor and extension safety specialist,
Agricultural Engineering Department, Cooperative Extension
Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University
of Florida, Gainesville
FL 32611.
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