Citation

Mason C, Earle-Richardson G. Am. J. Ind. Med. 2002; 43(Suppl 2): 36-42.

Affiliation

New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health, Northeast Center for Agricultural and Occupational Health, One Atwell Road, Cooperstown, New York 13326, USA. cmason@nycamh.com

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/ajim.10062

PMID

12210680

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Children living or working on New York farms face unique hazards and experience on-farm injuries related to these. The New York Community Partners for Healthy Farming (CPHF) surveillance provided a unique source of information for analyses of risk factors-particularly age-for these events. METHODS: Agricultural injuries recorded by the state's agricultural nurse surveillance (CPHF) program over a 6-year period were analyzed. Injuries were classified by type, severity, and possible contributing factors, including whether the age of the victim was below the "job appropriate age limits" designated by the investigators using materials from the North American Guidelines for Children's Agricultural Tasks (NAGCAT). RESULTS: Of the 164 recorded injuries to persons aged 1-18 years, 29 were fatalities, 18 were disabling, and 55% occurred while working. Leading injury types were tractor run-over (12) and overturns (11). Of those injured while working, 35% were under the "job appropriate age limits." Tasks of loading hay (square bales) (100%, 3), fieldwork with trailed implements (100%, 3), and feeding calves (100%, 2) most frequently involved very young victims. Grouped by injury source, injuries involving non-powered wagons had the highest frequency of under-age victims (82%, 9). CONCLUSION: The frequency of problems with job appropriate ages suggests that some children on NY farms may be developmentally inappropriate for the tasks to which they are being assigned. The NAGCAT Guidelines are a needed tool for child agricultural injury prevention in New York.

Language: en