Injury Surveillance for Youth on Farms in the U.S., 2006

Immigrant and migrant youth who live and work in agricultural settings experience unique agricultural safety and health issues. Mobility, poverty, cultural differences, immigration status, language, education, housing, food security, regulatory standards and enforcement, and access to childcare and health care influence exposure risk and the well-being of this population. Approximately 10% of the migrant agricultural labor force is composed of unaccompanied minors, whose safety and health is further compounded by lack of social supports and additional stresses associated with economic independence. This paper examines the current demographic and health data, regulatory protections, and programs and practices addressing safety and health in this sector of youth in agriculture. Gaps in knowledge and practice are identified, with emphasis on data collection and regulatory limitations. Best practices in programs addressing the special needs of this population are highlighted. Recommendations identify seven priority areas for impact to promote transformative change in the agricultural health and safety concerns of unaccompanied minors and children of immigrant, migrant and seasonal farmworkers. This framework may be used to examine similar needs in other identified subpopulations of children as they merit attention, whether now or in the future.

Section: Gaps In Knowledge and Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Unique Agricultural Safety and Health Issues of Migrant and Immigrant Children

McLaurin

Liebman²

2012

“…Over half a million children living on farms owned by their families engage in farm work, 4 and the injury and mortality rates for children working on these farms are particularly striking. 5 – 9 National data on occupational injury and mortality for youth working on farms document that a child dies in an agriculture-related incident every 3 days. 10 The annual agricultural youth fatality rate is 9.3/100,000 youth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Child Work Safety on the Farms of Local Agricultural Market Producers: Parent and Child Perspectives

Summers

Quandt

Johnson

et al. 2018

Agriculture is a hazardous industry, yet children face few regulations on the ages at which they may engage in farm work. Local agricultural market producers (LAMPs) are a growing subset of farmers within “sustainable agriculture” who engage in direct-to-consumer and direct-to-retailer enterprises. This study explores the occupational health and safety perceptions of parents and children for children who work on their families’ LAMP farms. In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 parent-child dyads from LAMP farms in Illinois and North Carolina. Four themes emerged from these 24 interviews; parents and children perceived that: (1) the nature of small farms makes them safer than industrial agricultural operations; (2) child safety on farms is common sense; (3) avoiding hazardous tasks keeps children safe; and (4) parents know best (compared to regulations) about ways to keep their children safe. Some of these themes echo the results of earlier studies conducted with more conventional farms. Further research is needed to develop programs to improve child occupational safety on LAMP farms.

“…12 For each study period (1999 and 2001), random samples of 16,000 agricultural operations were selected from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Master ListFrame of farming operations (3,200 operations from each state). Subsequently, telephone interviews with these operations determined eligibility to participate.…”

Section: Study Design and Populationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Children are directly and indirectly exposed to occupational hazards on farming and ranching operations 2 where more than half of all youth living on operations perform work or chores on the operation. 3 Rates of fatal work-related injuries have been shown to be nearly 4 times higher for youth working in agricultural production than for young workers in all industries combined. 4 Caring for animals is a major category of work for children on agricultural operations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Animal-Related Activities as Risk Factors for Injuries Among Youth on Agricultural Operations

Ryan

Gerberich

Alexander

et al. 2015

Working with animals on agricultural operations is hazardous for youths. This study evaluated the associations between activities and injuries related to specific animal types. A case-control study within the Regional Rural Injury Study II included 425 youths (less than 20 years of age) with injuries related to their operation and 1,886 controls (randomly selected youths). Exposures of interest were collected for the months prior to injury events for cases and randomly selected months for controls, based on an injury incidence algorithm. Multivariate logistic regression characterized associations between specific animal-related activities and injury outcomes among youths who reported working with the same animals. Large proportions of cases and controls, respectively, worked with beef cattle (47%, 28%), followed by horses (28%, 14%), and dairy cattle (22%, 12%). Feeding was the primary activity associated with animals; over 80% of cases and controls were involved in this activity during relevant exposure months, followed by milking (63%, 44%) among those working with dairy cows and herding (81%, 61%) among beef cattle workers. Elevated risk of dairy cattle-related injury was associated with milking (odds ratio [OR]: 2.5; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.0-6.6) whereas beef cattle-related injuries were associated with calving (OR: 4.2; 95% CI: 2.1-8.6) and footwork (OR: 2.2; 95% CI: 1.0-4.9). Among youths working with animals, explicit activities can be identified that are associated with animal-specific injuries. The identification of relevant hazardous tasks is necessary for the development of effective prevention measures.