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Rural injury prevention

Current Research Projects

Farm injury risk factors among males (FIRM) study

This study addresses occupational injury among adult farm workers. The health and safety performance of agricultural industries is among the worst in Australia. A recently published study of work-related fatalities from 1989 to 1992 found that rural industries ranked third, with a fatality rate of 3 to 4 times that for all industries. Best estimates place the cost of farm injury between $0.5 and $1.29 billion per year. This study is designed to contribute to farm injury prevention by: (1) identifying factors associated with a higher risk of serious injury among adult farm workers and (2) determining the proportions of the farm workforce who are exposed to various injury risks.

The prospective case-control study will recruit 300 seriously injured farm workers from regional Victoria and collect information by questionnaire about themselves, their working life and the property on which they work. This information will be compared with 600 randomly selected farm workers who are not seriously injured to determine which personal, work and environmental factors place farm workers at higher risk of injury. The study will lead to the development of new or more refined prevention strategies and programs. A study of this kind has not been conducted before in Australia and would contribute to a continuing scientific basis for selection of interventions for farm injury and targeting of prevention programs, at a time of increasing momentum in agricultural health and safety.

The study team comprises collaborators from the Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine (Monash University); Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Otago, NZ; Rural & Remote Health Research Institute, University of British Columbia; and the Centre for Agricultural Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Canada. Funding source: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Project Contact: Lesley Day

Study questionnaires

Farm Machinery Injury – AMDOSS*

Despite being a leading cause of farm injury, information about factors associated with farm machinery injury is limited, particularly for non-fatal serious injuries.An exciting and unique opportunity to examine in detail the contributing factors to serious farm machinery injuries has arisen from the above FIRM study.In the FIRM study, seriously injured farmers are being recruited via hospitals and being interviewed about themselves and the property on which they work. Similar information is being collected for comparison from uninjured farmers recruited via a telephone survey. This project outlines an additional module focussing exclusively on those having sustained an injury associated with machinery. On-site technical inventories of the relevant piece of machinery are conducted among the comparison group, on the same kind of machinery. These data are compared to determine those factors over represented among the injured group. (Sponsor: Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation) Contact: Wayne Baker

Virtual Fence

Injury is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity for children in Australia, and farm children are a high-risk sub-population.More than half (63%) of all child fatalities associated with farm work and farm work places are between 0-4 years of age and among these children, drowning is the most common cause of death.Farmsafe Australia has developed a framework for a national strategy to improve child safety on farms which provides a broad framework for all key stakeholders. As for most injuries issues, the most effective approach will be one which combines a number of approaches, and the current national strategy includes provision of adequate child care, education and training, and the identification of effective measures such as child proof fencing and gates for farm homes.However, the contribution of technology to this injury prevention priority is, to some extent, being overlooked.The technology to develop and alarm system which would notify the responsible adult if a child has wandered beyond the pre-determined boundaries around the farm home already exists.The aim of this project is to explore the feasibility and acceptability of such a virtual fence to enhance child farm safety.This project is seen as the first stage in the development and full field testing of a virtual fence. Contact: Lesley Day

Recently Completed Research Projects

Guidelines for evaluation of injury prevention programs in the rural sector

These guidelines are designed as a practical guide for those who plan, implement, and evaluate injury prevention programs in the rural sector. They have been written to support the ongoing development of, and capacity building within, the safety field in Australia.The publication may be found on the RIRDC website [.pdf].  Project Contact: Lesley Day

Evaluation of Victorian farm safety initiatives

The objective of this project is to compare the impact of differing approaches to farm injury prevention in Victoria and Queensland. Two random postal surveys, of 3000 Victorian farmers and workers have been conducted in the winters of 1998 and 2001. The questionnaires covered safety practices, exposure to key farm injury prevention programs and activities, exposure to farm work, injuries on the farm (previous 1 & 12 months), and farm/farmer characteristics. In the analysis, comparisons will be made between (1) the two time points, (2) those who have and have not been exposed to prevention activities, (3)major commodity groups. The Victorian results will be compared with the Queensland results, in collaboration with Mr Keith Ferguson (Dept of Industry Relations) and an analysis made of the differences or similarities. Prevention activities in Victoria and Queensland will be documented and compared. (Sponsor: Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation) Project Contact: Lesley Day

Safe Tractor Access Platforms: from guidance material to implementation.

Run-overs are the second leading cause of tractor deaths in agriculture and will become increasingly prominent, as tractor roll-overs are addressed. The Safe Tractor Access Platform guidance note, produced by the Australian Centre for Agricultural Health and Safety, has been used in Victoria by two farm safety action groups (FSAG) to fit some 18 tractors with the platforms. This project  examined the implementation of this preventive strategy.  Farmer interviews and engineering-based inspections of ten retrofitted tractors were conducted to gather information regarding benefits and disadvantages of the retrofitting and to assess the construction of the platforms.  A scoring system was developed for platform retrofitting, and weighted scores between zero and ten were calculated for tractor access before and after retrofitting. Access was improved on all tractors, although to varying degrees.  Platform retrofitting had little effect on tractor operations and substantially improved ease of access.  This study shows that general guidelines for retrofitting of safe access platforms can be successfully applied.  Mechanisms to increase adherence to the key criteria of bottom step positioning and rear wheel guarding should be included in future promotion. (Sponsor: Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation) Report on RIRDC site. Project Contact: Lesley Day

See previous page for other publications