Safeguarding youth from agricultural injury and illness: The Australian experience

Abstract

BackgroundAs of 31 March 2022, there were 25,890,773 estimated resident population in Australia across the eight states and territories (1). In the 2020-21 Financial year, there was 387 million hectares of agricultural land (50% of Australia's land mass), of which the majority (86%) was used for grazing (2). There were 228,372 people in the Australian agricultural workforce in 2016, 69% were males, the median age was 56 years, and a third (37%) were owner operators (3).In Australia, fatalities on Australian farms have remained steady over the last decade, with 1,584 between 2001-2020 (4). Children represent approximately 15% of these deaths (5, 6). Issues that have been found to be of importance to farmers about the safety of their children on farms in Australia include: general danger avoidance and safety, machinery, moving vehicles, bike safety, animal handling, personal protective equipment (PPE), supervision, speed, water safety and chemicals (5).Peachey et al. ( 2020) explored the 222 deaths of children (<15 years) on Australian farms over a 19-year period (2001-2019) (6). Of the 222 deaths, 51% were less than 5 years of age, 22% were 5-9 years and 27% were 10-14 years (6). The majority (68%) of these deaths were residents of the farms (6). In the final years (2017-2019) of the study there were 13.0 cases per annum, a significant reduction from 1989-1992 where there were 29 deaths per annum (6, 7). Common agents involved in child deaths have not changed much over time, with the exception of quadbike-related deaths of which there were four between 1989-1992 and 32 in the 2001-2019 period, with drowning in dams continuing to be a major cause of death (6, 7). Interestingly, while water safety accounts for 31% of deaths on farms this was not seen as the highest priority by parents (5, 6). Farm dams remain an ongoing challenge for farm safety (8, 9), partly due to changing climatic conditions with dam water level ranging dramatically from year to year. Other common agents, also reflected in the concerns of parents included quadbikes, tractors, utes (farm pick-up), cars, motorcycles and horses (6).The leading organization responsible for improving safety on farms in Australia is Farmsafe Australia (FSA). FSA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the wellbeing and productivity of Australian agriculture through enhancing health and safety practices. FSA grew from local action in the 1980's and has operated as Australia's leading agricultural health and safety organization. FSA develops and delivers a range of resources and programs in Australia and has recently (2019) received multi-year funding