Non-Fatal Injuries: An Overview of Injuries to Youth Living on Racial-Minority Operated Farms in the U.S., 2000

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) estimates that 32,808 non-fatal injuries occurred to youth under 20 years of age on U.S. farms during 1998. These data, however, do not allow for the identification of the race of the farm operator. Therefore, in 2001, the Minority Farm Operator Childhood Agricultural Injury Survey (M-CAIS) was conducted to provide an overview of the number of youth on minority operated farms and their associated farm-related injuries during 2000. M-CAIS was conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for NIOSH through a telephone survey of approximately 50,000 minority operated farms identified in the 1997 Census of Agriculture. These minority operated farms included four racial categories (Black, Asian, American Indian, and Other) and Hispanic ethnicity. M-CAIS data indicate that approximately 416,088 youth under 20 years of age lived, visited, or worked on farms with a racial minority operator in 2000. Of this number, an estimated 28,577 (6.8%) lived on these farms. There were also approximately 7,435 youth directly hired to work on the operation, and 380,076 youth, including relatives, visiting the farm during 2000. On these racial-minority operated farms, an estimated 531 non-fatal injuries occurred to youth less than 20 years of age during 2000. The majority of these injuries (348, 66%) occurred to youth identified as members of the household. Males accounted for 382 (72%) of the injuries. For the 200 (37%) injuries to household youth identified as work-related, 174 (87%) occurred to youth age 10 to 19 years. In addition, livestock operations account for the majority of all injuries (362, 68%). This paper will also present injury rates for specific sub-categories of the data to provide further insight into types of injuries and other factors which may impact these rates. These data will provide researchers, injury prevention practitioners and farm families more detailed information on non-fatal injury events occurring on farms operated by racial minorities. This information may be used to assess the need for further study of specific subpopulations and the need for varied health and safety education within these populations.