Strife on the Farm Injuries happen more often than previously believed
WASHINGTON TWP — There is always some kind of work that has to be done on a farm.
The constant workload causes some farmers to take shortcuts to finish one job, so they can move on to the next chore as quickly as possible.
It is in those rushed moments when accidents tend to occur, said Randy Smith, who raises Black Angus cows and tons of corn on the 1,000-acre farm he runs with his brother, Ed Smith, in Washington Township.
“One thing about farming is there's always something to do, and you try to finish fast,” Randy said.
Twelve years ago, almost to the day on July 3, he was in a hurry to herd a loose cow back to the barn when the all-terrain vehicle he was using flipped over.
Randy found himself partially submerged in a creek, which lowered his body temperature to 92 degrees, and the hot exhaust pipe was pressed against his back.After he was found three hours later, a medical helicopter flew him to a Pittsburgh hospital, where he spent two weeks in intensive care.He recovered from the accident, but doesn't consider ATVs or cows to be the most dangerous things he works with.Power take off units, or PTOs, which use the engine power from a tractor or combine to run auxiliary equipment such as corn pickers and hay bailers, are the most dangerous, he said.He said he knows of three county farmers who have died over the years as a result of accidents that took place while they were using PTOs.
Two of the men's jackets got stuck in the PTO. In the other case, the PTO broke and it caught his clothing.“You always have to be aware of your surroundings,” he said.Newer equipment will automatically shut off when the driver gets out of the seat, but a lot of older equipment that does not have that safety feature is still in use, he said.A recent study conducted by researchers at Penn State found that nonfatal injuries in the agriculture industry occur more frequently than previously believed.From 2015 through 2019, more than 60,000 people were treated in emergency departments for agriculture-related injuries, and 30% of those people were youths, the research found.Before the study, information about nonfatal agricultural injuries was based mostly on regional or national periodic surveys, including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses.
That survey collects data on work-related nonfatal injuries and illnesses among employees in all industries in the country, but its data excludes self-employed farmers and family members as well as workers on farms with fewer than 11 employees.“It has been estimated that the SOII was undercounting occupational injuries and illnesses in agriculture by about 78%,” said Michael Judd, Nationwide Insurance professor of agricultural safety and health and professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Penn State's college of agricultural sciences, who conducted the study.To reach that conclusion, researchers delved into data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's National Electronic Injury Surveillance System for patients treated in emergency departments over the five-year period, looking for incidents connected to farming.Over that period, an estimated 62,079 people were treated in an emergency department for agriculture-related injuries.The mean age estimate in this population was 39 years old, with ages ranging from 1 to 95. Almost two-thirds of patients were male, and almost 80% were white. Approximately 30% were youths and 22% were seniors.A recent study in the Journal of Agromedicine says most farming injuries occurred from April through September. The most common injury was fracture, followed by open wound or amputation.The primary source of injury was in the “vehicles” category, with tractors being the most common vehicle.
