AGRICULTURAL SAFETY

CDC: COVID-19: Work & School: Community, Work, and School: Information for Where You Live, Work, Learn, and Play
CDC Webpage
This webpage provides guiding principles and strategies to protect students, teachers, staff, and communities.

Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Program
NIOSH Publication No. 2020-101.
The Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Program provides leadership to prevent work-related injuries and illnesses among the nation’s agricultural and forestry workers and fishermen. This snapshot shows recent accomplishments and
upcoming work.

Occupational Health of Hired Farmworkers in the United States: National Agricultural Workers Survey Occupational Health Supplement, 1999
NIOSH Publication No. 2009-119.
Hired farmworkers form a core component of the agricultural workforce in the United States. However, very little national health data exists for this population. In 1998, to define the magnitude and scope of hired farmworker occupational health problems, the NIOSH collaborated with the Department of Labor to collect occupational safety and health information about a nationally representative sample of hired farmworkers. The collaboration allowed NIOSH to include questions on occupational health in an existing Department of Labor survey, the National Agricultural Workers Survey. This document presents a first look at the health data from this collaboration. This document presents nationally representative data on hired crop farmworker occupational health.

Preventing Worker Deaths and Injuries when Handling Micotil 300
NIOSH Publication No. 2007-124.
Livestock producers, veterinarians, and other workers may be exposed to the toxic hazards of the animal antibiotic Micotil 300® through needlestick injuries, skin cuts, puncture wounds, and contact with skin and mucous membranes. Cardio-toxic effects of Micotil 300® on the human heart, including a reduced cardiac contractility and tachycardia (rapid heartbeat), can be severe enough to cause death. This Workplace Solution recommends that extreme care be given to following safe drug handling and injection procedures to avoid the possibility of self-injection. Although no antidote exists for Micotil 300®, exposed persons should seek immediate medical intervention as the drug’s cardiotoxic effects may be reversed.

NIOSH Alert: Preventing Phosphine Poisoning and Explosions during Fumigation
NIOSH Publication No. 99-126 (September 1999)
Phosphide fumigants release toxic phosphine gas (PH3) when they contact moisture in the air. When phosphine is inhaled, it can react with moisture in the lungs to form phosphoric acid, which can cause blistering and edema. These effects can be serious or fatal. Exposure to phosphine has also been linked with other effects such as chest tightness, headache, dizziness, and nausea. Also, improper handling of aluminum and magnesium phosphide has caused injuries from flash fires and explosions. This Alert describes 205 cases of illness or injury in workers exposed to phosphine gas associated with phosphide fumigants. Recommendations are provided for workers and employers that cover areas such as: aeration and re-entry after fumigation, industrial hygiene monitoring, personal hygiene, protective clothing, and respirators.
En Español

Hazard ID #4: Ignition Hazard from Drilling into Sealed Frames of Agricultural Equipment
NIOSH Publication No. 98-146 (July 1998)
NIOSH received two separate reports of farm workers who were injured while attempting to drill holes into sealed plow frames in order to mount a hitch or a “slow-moving vehicle” sign. These workers received serious skin burns and other injuries when the drill bits penetrated the frames releasing and igniting flammable gases. Hydrogen and methane gas may be produced within sealed frames that are filled during manufacture with scrap metal ballast. Although the reported ignitions involved plows from the same manufacturer, the use of scrap metal fill may not be unique to plows or to that manufacturer. The potential for such ignitions exists in any equipment with similar ballast in sealed compartments during drilling, cutting, welding, or other operations that both release the gases and provide an ignition source. This Hazard ID provides recommendations for agricultural workers, equipment manufacturers, equipment dealers, agricultural extension agents, and universities in dealing with this hazard.

Safe Grain and Silage Handling
NIOSH Publication No. 95-109 (October 1995)
Grain-handling machinery is the second largest cause of farm machinery related deaths and also causes many severe disfiguring injuries and amputations. Many grain-handling hazards can be avoided. The goal of this booklet is to point out these hazards and suggest practical ways to prevent injury. These suggestions were gathered from agricultural engineers and safety experts throughout the world, but primarily from the United States and Canada.

Worker Safety on the Farm
NIOSH Publication No. 2010-137 (April 2010)
This pamphlet provides recent data on farm worker injuries and deaths and practical recommendations that can be used by farmers and workers to prevent injuries.

National Academies NIOSH Program Review: Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing
This report is the initial “evidence package” from NIOSH to the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Research Program evaluation committee assembled by the NA. We stress “initial” because we believe that the AFF Program review will be best-served by substantial communications between the program and the committee throughout the process. It is understood that the evaluation committee and the NA are charged with executing a thorough review of the program and that to do so it will need much information from the program. We have tried to anticipate those needs with this package. In addition, we look forward to an ongoing dialogue with the committee.

Injuries Among Farm Workers in the United States, 1995
NIOSH Publication No. 2001-153 (May 2001)
The intent of this document is to present the third and final year of the Traumatic Injury Survey of Farming (TISF) results in an easily accessible statistical abstract format. This is the third in the series of TISF reports [Myers: 1997; Myers, 1998]. No attempt is made to interpret the results presented here because of the quantity of data presented, and because these data represent only one part of a more complex survey. It is hoped that the data will be used by public health and safety professionals, engineers, and other groups working in the area of farm safety to injury control research.

A national overview of youth and injury trends on U.S. farms, 2001-2014
Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health: July, 2021 / 27(3):121-134
This article presents an overview of the non-fatal youth injury and exposure data collected from the 2014 CAIS. Additionally, this article examines household youth injury trends for the entire CAIS series of six surveys from 2001 to 2014.

National estimates of youth and injuries on U.S. farms, 2012
Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health: October, 2018 / 24(4):261-269
This article presents injury surveillance for youth on farms in the U.S. and focuses on the findings of the 2012 Childhood Agricultural Injury Survey (CAIS).

A Story of Impact: Guidelines for Children’s Agricultural Tasks
NIOSH Publication No. 2011-129 (March 2011)
This document concisely describes the impact of the NIOSH-supported effort to develop the North American Guidelines for Children’s Agricultural Tasks (NAGCAT). The NAGCAT have contributed to reductions in childhood farm injuries by providing parents with guidance on farm work tasks that match a child’s physical, mental, and psychosocial abilities.

Evaluating Teen Farmworker Education: An Evaluation of a High School ESL Health and Safety Curriculum
NIOSH Publication No. 2011-113
This document concisely describes the results and impact of a NIOSH-supported study that demonstrated that a school-based English as a Second Language (ESL) Curriculum was an effective mechanism for reaching hired teen farmworkers and teaching them about occupational safety and health.

Injuries to Youth on Farms and Safety Recommendations, U.S. 2006
NIOSH Publication No. 2009-117 (February 2009)
Understanding how to create a safe farm environment is important for farm operators and their families. Youth who live and work on farms are exposed to potentially dangerous farm-related hazards.

Injuries to Youth on Racial Minority Farm Operations, 2003
NIOSH Publication No. 2007-163 (August 2007)
Understanding how to create a safe farm environment is important for farm operators and their families. Youth who live and work on farms are exposed to potentially dangerous farm-related hazards more frequently than other youth.

Injuries to Youth on Hispanic Farm Operations, 2003
NIOSH Publication No. 2007-162 (August 2007)
Understanding how to create a safe farm environment is important for farm operators and their families. Youth who live and work on farms are exposed to potentially dangerous farm-related hazards more frequently than other youth.

Since the inception of the FACE program in 1982, several fatal incidents involving agricultural activities have been investigated by NIOSH and over 200 fatal incidents involving agricultural activities have been investigated by State investigators. These links provide lists of those cases which in turn links to the full-text reports.

• NIOSH FACE Investigation Reports
• State FACE Investigation Reports
• State FACE Agriculture-related Alerts
  • Farm Worker’s Hand Mangled in Hop Harvester
    WA Alert: Report # 71-232-2023 / January 30, 2023
  • Orchard Worker Driving Overloaded ATV Struck on Highway
    WA Alert: Report # 71-222-2022 / June 27, 2022
  • Orchard Worker Driving UTV Struck By Car
    WA Alert: Report # 71-222-2022 / June 27, 2022
  • Operator Run Over by Combine Harvester when Engine Started by “Hot-wiring”
    WA Alert: Report # 71-206-2021 / April 6, 2021
  • Operator Electrocuted while Performing Maintenance on Center Pivot Irrigation System
    WA Alert: Report # 71-204-2021 / February 2, 2021
  • Laborer Burned Cutting 55-Gallon Drum when Leftover Fuel Explodes
    WA Alert: Report # 71-177-2019 / January 14, 2019

NIOSHTIC-2 search results on Agricultural Safety
NIOSHTIC-2 is a searchable bibliographic database of occupational safety and health publications, documents, grant reports, and journal articles supported in whole or in part by NIOSH.