Fatal Farm Accidents: Wisconsin, 1968-1970

AUTHOR ABSTRACT

Forty percent of all work fatalities in Wisconsin occur on farms, although agriculture accounts for only 9.5% of the total labor force. (Page 3)

During the three-year period 1968-1970 Wisconsin averaged 82 fatal farm accidents, with an estimate of farm injuries 70-80 times greater. (Page 7)

Farm accident fatalities continue to rise during 1968-1970 with a rate of 17.4 per 100,000 rural farm population compared to a rate of 16.5 for 1965-1967. (Page 7)

Farm fatality rates increase with age: Age 0-29 has a rate of 10.7, 30-64 a rate of 19.6 and 65 and over a rate of 53.4 per 100,000 estimated rural farm population.

Eighty percent of the accident fatalities that occur on farms are among farm residents; whereas, 20 percent are non-farm persons who are visiting or using the land for recreational purposes, etc. (page 10)

Two-thirds of the males who are accidentally killed on the farm were at work while only one-third of the female farm fatalities were reported as involved in farm work. (Page 11)

For the reporting period over 39 percent of the farm fatalities are attributable to tractor accidents. Other farm machinery accounts for 15.7 percent, and falls for 12 percent. (Page 13)

Among children (below age 15) one-third of the fatal accidents involve tractors, and 24 percent involve other machinery. (Page 15)

Summer, when most of the field work is done, is the worst season of the year accounting for almost 35 percent of all farm fatalities. October with 38 fatalities is the single worst month of the year. In addition to tractor accidents October is high in accidents from cornpickers and also from hunting. (Page 16)

Fatal accidents are concentrated from mid-morning through the afternoon hours, best suited for field work. (Page 18)

Seventy-three percent of the victims die within one hour of the accident; only 7 percent survive for more than 7 days after the injury. (Page 20)

Regions of the state with more steep slopes have higher fatal farm accident rates than the regions with more level terrain. (Page 22).

SOURCE AND NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE ID#

SOURCE: Madison, Wisconsin: Division of Health, Wisconsin Department of Health and Human Services; [1971?]. 24.

NLOM ID#: No ID#.