John R. Myers

Logging fatalities in the united states by region, cause of death, and other factors — 1980 through 1988

Logging has been reported to be one of the most hazardous industries in the United States for fatal injury. However, most studies have been at the state level and did not look at the logging industry specifically, but identified the risk of this industry through comparisons of fatalities across all industries. National data on logging injuries have concentrated on nonfatal injuries, not fatal injuries. To learn more about fatal logging injuries, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health analyzed the National Traumatic Occupational Fatality surveillance system for demographic differences in logging fatalities occurring in the United States from 1980 through 1988. The results indicate that there are regional differences in logging fatality rates, with the highest fatality rates occurring in those regions of the country harvesting primarily hardwood sawtimber. No significant differences in fatality rates between African-American and white workers were found.

Roll-over Protective Structure Use and the Cost of Retrofitting Tractors in the United States, 1993

Agricultural tractors are the leading cause of occupational death in the agricultural production industry in the United States, with tractor overturns being the single most common event causing these deaths. Rollover Protective Structures (ROPS) are the most effective intervention available at this time to prevent these deaths, but ROPS are not used universally by U.S. farmers. An analysis of tractor information from 12,913 randomly sampled farms indicated that, in 1993, over 4.8 million tractors were in use on U.S. farms, of which 2.98 million lacked ROPS. Farm tractors over 20 years of age were much less likely to have ROPS. The material cost of retrofitting ROPS on the tractors examined in the study was estimated at

Agricultural tractor overturn deaths: Assessment of trends and risk factors

937 per tractor, with a cost of

Statistics and Epidemiology of Tractor Fatalities—A Historical Perspective

825,000 per life saved. An additional 1.68 million tractors needing ROPS were not covered in this cost analysis. Suggestions on possible programs to increase ROPS use on farm tractors are discussed.

Working lifetime risk of occupational fatal injury

BACKGROUND Tractor overturn deaths have been recognized as a public health concern for decades. Studies have reported on the hazards associated with tractor overturns, but none have reported on trends in tractor overturn fatality rates in the United States (US). METHODS Tractor overturn fatality data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries were used in Poisson regression models to: identify risk factors associated with overturn fatalities; examine trends in tractor overturn fatality rates between 1992 and 2007; and assess trends in overturn fatality rates for specific risk factors. RESULTS Characteristics found to be associated with tractor overturn fatality rates were age, type of farm, region, and the victims relationship to the farm (P < 0.0001). Older age groups, crop farms, farms in the Midwest and Northeast, and family workers all had higher fatal tractor overturn risks. Overall, tractor overturn fatality rates declined 28.5% between 1992 and 2007. Significant decreases in tractor overturn fatality rates were found for the Northeast and South regions, hired workers, crop farms, and in every age group except those less than 25 years of age. CONCLUSIONS Tractor overturn fatality rates decreased between 1992 and 2007. These decreases were not consistent between different categories of the agricultural workforce or regions of the US. Changes in tractor overturn fatality rates may be partially explained by increases in the prevalence of ROPS on farm tractors in the US. ROPS promotion programs are needed to reduce tractor overturn fatalities, especially among those subpopulations at highest risk.

Injuries to youth living on U.S. farms in 2001 with comparison to 1998.

Farm tractors have historically been identified as the leading source of work-related farming deaths in the U.S. While data from the National Safety Council show that tractor-related deaths and fatality rates have decreased since 1969, current surveillance data indicate that an average of 218 farmers and farmworkers die annually from tractor-related injuries. Of these deaths, approximately 120 are associated with tractor overturns. Most of these deaths occur to tractor operators 65 years of age and older. Roll-over Protective Structures (ROPS) have been identified as the single best method of preventing tractor overturn-related deaths, yet only 38% of all tractors used on farms in the U.S. were equipped with ROPS in 1993. A major issue associated with increasing the use of ROPS on farm tractors is the cost of retrofitting ROPS on older tractors. The average cost to retrofit tractors with ROPS in the U.S. was estimated at

Hand tool injuries at work: A surveillance perspective

937, and a cost of at least

Tracking the prevalence of rollover protective structures on U.S. farm tractors: 1993, 2001, and 2004

4 billion nationally in 1993.

Examining occupational health and safety disparities using national data: a cause for continuing concern.

Estimates of risk accumulated over a working lifetime are used to assess the significance of many workplace health hazards. Utilizing data from the National Traumatic Occupational Fatalities (NTOF) surveillance system, estimates of the risk of work-related fatal injuries are provided for the 50 industries and the 50 occupations having the highest risks. Cause-specific risk estimates are provided for the six occupations at the greatest risk of occupational fatal injuries. Results suggest that the risks of certain work-related fatal injuries in some occupations (e.g., loggers being struck by falling objects) are of the same magnitude as risks previously identified for specific occupational illness exposures (e.g., lung cancer among uranium miners exposed to ionizing radiation). Assuming a 45-year working lifetime, cause-specific fatal injury risks reported in this paper range from a predetermined minimum of 1 death per 1,000 lifetime workers to 36.4 deaths per 1,000 lifetime workers. These results suggest that risk assessment for traumatic causes of death should be considered equally with risk assessments for health exposures, such as potential carcinogens.

Identifying Work-related Fatalities in the Agricultural Production Sector Using Two National Occupational Fatality Surveillance Systems, 1990-1995

Abstract To obtain sustained injury surveillance data for youth on farms, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health developed the Childhood Agricultural Injury Survey (CAIS) in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The first CAIS collected data for youth less than 20 years in 1998 through a regionally stratified telephone survey of 50,000 U.S. farm households; a second CAIS for 2001 was conducted using the same methodology. In 2001, there were approximately 1.2 million youth living on U.S. farms. These youth suffered an estimated 19,397 injuries (15.7/1,000 household youth). Approximately 60% (11,571) of the household youth injuries were to males. For all household youth, 10-15 year olds experienced the most injuries (49%, 9,486). In addition to providing estimates of demographics, injuries, and injury rates for household youth from the 2001 CAIS, this article provides a comparison to results from the 1998 CAIS. The number of household youth injuries on farms from 1998 to 2001 decreased by almost 30% (27,321 vs. 19,397). The results of this study show an overall decrease in the injury rate for youth living on the farm from 1998 to 2001 (18.8/1,000 household youth vs. 15.7/1,000 household youth). However, there was a considerable increase in the number of injuries to household females less than 20 years of age during this same time period. There was also an increase in the number of all terrain vehicle (ATV) and horse-related injuries. Continued surveillance is needed to assess if these are significant trends or the result of changing farm demographics.