NOVEMBER 2019
Agriculture still ranks one of the most dangerous occupations, but what does that really mean? Where are the injuries occurring? What are the type of injuries? Who is being injured – youth, adults, immigrants? How severe are the injuries?
There are many factors to consider when looking at the whole picture of agricultural injuries. Dr. Bryan Weichelt from the National Farm Medicine Center has developed on online tool to answer these questions and help us to better understand the issue.
New online database puts sharper focus on U.S. agricultural injuries
Scott Heiberger Communications Manager, National Farm Medicine Center
A newly updated online tool is providing a clearer picture of injuries in agriculture.
AgInjuryNews.org enables users to search the largest database of publicly available U.S. agricultural injury and fatality reports, getting a near real-time snapshot of the distribution and nature of trauma incidents, both nationally and locally.
“The innovation here is the combination of capturing, coding, and redistributing publicly available data on agricultural injuries and fatalities, primarily mined from media reports, and coupled with relevant prevention materials,”
-Bryan Weichelt, Ph.D., Associate Research Scientist, National Farm Medicine Center, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute.
Insurers, lenders, agricultural employers, government statisticians, media professionals, educators, policy-makers and researchers are using AgInjuryNews.org to guide research priorities, safety initiatives, and public policy.
The original version of AgInjuryNews.org was launched in 2015. New features and design changes include an interactive map display, more data granularity for search and filters, and customizable email alerts. Weichelt announced the redesigned system June 25 in Des Moines, Iowa, during the International Society for Agricultural Safety and Health annual conference.
Farmers and ranchers represent less than 2% of the population and are dispersed geographically. Agriculture’s decentralized nature and diversity of work practices contribute to it being one of the most hazardous occupations, and makes injury surveillance difficult. There is no central repository of agricultural injury data, and federal childhood ag injury surveillance has ended.
“Custom email alerts allow users to choose what types of injury reports they want to see and how often they want to receive them. For example, someone might want weekly reports of ATV-related adult injuries, or skid steer-related youth injuries from a particular state or region.” -Bryan Weichelt
Read What People are Saying…
“AgInjuryNews.org is helping to standardize the collection and analysis of injury occurring on farms and ranches across the United States by adhering to national standards for coding and describing agricultural injury,”
-Dennis Murphy, Ph.D., Nationwide Insurance Professor Emeritus, Penn State University.
“Reports of agricultural injuries appear in the media almost on a daily basis. Many organizations collect and use these ‘press clippings’ but for the first time, Dr. Weichelt and his team have created a publicly accessible website where anyone can search for injury cases of interest to them in a well-designed web interface. This is of great help for those of us interested in agricultural injury prevention.”
-Risto Rautianen, Ph.D., Director of the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health.
In the absence of a national surveillance program for agriculture-related injuries among U.S. adults and children, news media and similar reports have become increasingly valuable for ag safety stakeholders.
Weichelt acknowledges that there are limitations to gleaning injury data from news reports, including the fact that not all agricultural fatalities are reported in the media. Non-fatal injuries are thought to be particularly under-reported. Funding for this project was provided by generous donors as well as by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Agricultural Safety and Health Council of America, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, the Dr. Dean Emanuel Endowment and the National Farm Medicine Center.
Marshfield Clinic Research Institute
UMASH partners with The National Farm Medicine Center and the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, which are both housed at the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute. The National Farm Medicine Center was established in 1981 in response to occupational health problems seen in farm patients coming to Marshfield Clinic. The center continues to focus its research and outreach on rural populations. Since 1997, the National Farm Medicine Center has been home to the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety.
Did you know?
Did you know that you could create customized alerts on AgInjuryNews that will come right to your email?
The Create an Alert function is a great way to get the reports you are looking for sent directly to your inbox either weekly, monthly, or yearly. You can also filter the reports to get only the information that is important to you.
Alerts can be created in 4 easy steps once you log in: “Create an Alert” on the home page, select the frequency you’d like to receive the reports, filter the information you’d like to see, and add!
For more information, email
AgInjuryNews@marshfieldresearch.org
Or call: 1-715-221-6098.
This article was featured in the Wisconsin State Farmer September 10, 2019