Fatal occupational injuries to older workers in farming, 1995-2002

Agriculture is known to be a dangerous industry in which to work.1 In fact, in the late 1980s, the National Coalition for Agricultural Safety and Health stated, “America’s most productive work force is being systematically liquidated by an epidemic of occupational disease and traumatic death and injury in the face of diminishing local and Federal resources.”2 Researchers have found agricultural workers aged 55 years and older to be one of the working populations with the largest risk of fatal injury.3 In 1994, Scott Richardson and Andrew Schulman concluded that the high overall rate of fatal injuries among older workers appeared to be related to their distribution among certain high-risk occupations and industries, primarily agriculture related.4 In a 2004 publication, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health noted that the fatality rate for agricultural workers 55 years and older differed considerably from the overall rate for private-sector workers in that age group.5 The most significant types of injuries to workers over the age of 55 in farming occupations involve machinery and livestock.6 Farm tractors were previously identified as the most noteworthy source of fatal injury to workers in that age group.7 Of serious consequence is the fact that two-thirds of all tractors in use are not equipped to protect the operator from rollover injury.8 A previous study found that more than 40 percent of fatal injuries involving animals involved workers 55 years and older; the study went on to say that the majority of cattle-related deaths were incurred by workers aged 65 years and older.9 Samuel Meyer is an economist in the Office of Compensation and Working Conditions, Bureau of Labor Statistics. E-mail: [email protected] Agricultural workers aged 55 years and older are at a higher risk of fatal occupational injury than their younger counterparts; leading causes of fatalities are transportation incidents, contact with objects or equipment, and assaults, including assaults by animals