No practical surveillance mechanism exists that collects information on injuries associated with agricultural activities for most farms in the US. Dairy; Wisconsin’s most important agricultural activity, is no exception.

This surveillance project focuses on injuries in Wisconsin dairy farmers and workers, with particular emphasis on changes in the dairy industry and the effect these changes have on injury patterns.  The goal is to establish an active surveillance process using a recurring survey and linking to electronic health records and various state health data records in order to inform policy and guide interventions designed to reduce the overall burden of injury on this population.

PROJECT BACKGROUND:

• Approximately 10% of farmworkers are injured each year, and dairy farmers have an exceptionally high risk of injury. How farmers get injured has been documented previously, but less is known about how distal and socio-environmental risk factors influence injury rates.

PROJECT OUTCOMES:

• The study reinforced prior observations that injuries are common amongst dairy farmers and provided insight
  into possible risk factors, like having private health insurance, living off-farm, and not providing safety training to
  workers.
• In addition, this study determined that using medical codes for farm injuries can be correlated to certain highrisk
  activities and conditions. Natural language processing to estimate the extent of work-related injuries did not
  improve this process.
• Overall, the project team developed successful methods to conduct surveillance of agriculturally based injuries
  using electronic health records.