Australian farm work injuries: incidence, diversity and personal risk factors

Aust J Rural Health. 1996 Aug;4(3):179-89. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1584.1996.tb00207.x.

Abstract

Information on farm work-related injuries was sought to assist in the design of effective farm safety prevention programs. A telephone survey was conducted using a stratified random sample of 919 sheep/wool, beef cattle and dryland broadacre cropping farms from three shires in the wheat/sheep belt of New South Wales. The adjusted response rate was 84%. There were 425 reported injuries over an 18-month period. One in five farms reported at least one injury per year, while one in 12 farms reported at least one serious injury per year. Animal-related injuries were the largest major category for agent of injury, while the largest category for nature of injury was sprain and strain, recording almost one-quarter of all injuries. The farm workshop or shed was the most common location of injury, with more than 20% of all reported injuries occurring there. Personal risk factors thought to contribute to these farm work-related injuries were examined. The statistically significant personal risk factors for injury occurrence were age (and/or experience), previous injury status, body mass index, hours of sleep, a variable measuring daytime drowsiness and a variable measuring perceived stress.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Accidents, Occupational / prevention & control
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Agricultural Workers' Diseases / epidemiology*
  • Demography
  • Epidemiologic Methods
  • Factor Analysis, Statistical
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Male
  • New South Wales / epidemiology
  • Risk Factors
  • Sampling Studies
  • Wounds and Injuries / epidemiology*
  • Wounds and Injuries / prevention & control