Citation

Lee BC, Salzwedel MA. Front. Public Health 2023; 11: e1048576.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Frontiers Editorial Office)

DOI

10.3389/fpubh.2023.1048576

PMID

36794078

PMCID

PMC9922745

Abstract

The United States of America (US) is a country of 50 states with a population of more than 335 million people in 2022 (1). Across the expansive geography, there are ~2.1 million farms (2), with about 890,000 youth younger than 20 years old living and working on family farms, plus another 265,000 non-resident youth hired to work on farms each year (3). The tremendous diversity in US farm locations, size, commodities, machinery, and livestock is associated with a wide range of work assignments and risk exposures for young people of all ages. Occupational fatality data from the last decade indicate that, across all industries, agriculture had the leading number of work-related deaths for youth. Further, within the agricultural industry, youth between the ages of 10 and 15 suffered the most non-fatal work-related injuries (4). Although there are no official agricultural injury statistics for youth in the US, a 2014 government analysis estimated an annual 12,000 non-fatal injuries among youth and, of these, about 2/3 involved non-working youth, that is, individuals in the farm environment, but not actively engaged in the work itself (5). Leading causes of fatal and non-fatal injuries for both working and non-working youth are vehicles (including tractors, all-terrain vehicles, skid steer loaders), machinery, and contact with animals.1

Agricultural environments also include health risks that are compounded for youth in relation to their physical development stage. Concerns include exposures such as organic dusts, airborne pollutants, pesticides, toxic gases, and cleaning agents. Additionally, there are risks associated with heat-related illness, animal-transmitted infections, noise-induced hearing loss, musculoskeletal strains, sun exposure, and mental health...

Language: en

Keywords

Adolescent; Humans; children; injuries; safety; USA; policy; agriculture; *Agriculture; *Occupational Diseases/prevention & control; *Occupational Injuries/prevention & control; deaths