A multi-year analysis of fatal farm and agricultural injuries in Pennsylvania

Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting comprise the most hazardous industry in the U.S., and production agriculture accounts for the majority of fatalities in the industry. Using Penn State's farm and agricultural injury database, data were coded according to ASABE's Farm and Agricultural Injury Classification (FAIC) code and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS) for source and event or exposure types. Occupational and non-occupational incidents were compared based on age groups, religious sect, source of injury, and the injury event or exposure. There were 355 farm and agricultural fatalities in Pennsylvania from 2000 through 2012, and 56% of these fatalities were occupational. The fatality rate was 33.4 per 100,000 farm household residents per year. Youth under 15 years old, seniors age 65 and older, Anabaptist youth, and young females were at high risk of fatal farm injury. Vehicles and transportation incidents were the most common injury source and event/exposure type, respectively. This research illustrates how state-level or national-level data can be collected, coded, and analyzed based on the FAIC and OIICS classification systems to better understand fatal injury causes and connections among important variables. This process can also help to target intervention programs and efforts.