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NOTE: This document is provided for historical purposes only.
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Background: Tractors are responsible for approximately one-half of agriculture fatalities and injuries in the US. This case-based study used workers’ compensation data to investigate these injuries. Methods Tractor-related injury claim data from Colorado and California were analyzed. Descriptive analyses of the costs, consequences, and contributing factors associated with tractor-related injuries were conducted. The epidemiological agent-host-environment model was used to analyze injury event descriptions.
Results: A total of 757 tractor-related claims from Colorado (N = 642) and California (N = 115) were analyzed. A total of 24 tractor-overturn injury events were also analyzed. Twenty percent of injury events occurred while workers were mounting or dismounting the tractor while an additional 10% of claims indicated the worker fell, jumped, or slipped off a tractor. Conclusion The finding of a large percentage of tractor-related injuries associated with mounting and dismounting activities corroborates previous studies, and suggests the need to further investigate tractor design characteristics associated with these events.
Agriculture is one of the most injurious industries in the United States. Previous studies have indicated that agricultural machinery is a primary cause of farm-related injuries [Cordes and Foster, 1988, Gerberich et al., 1998, May, 1990] and the cause of death or disability in many cases [Etherton et al., 1991, Purschwitz and Field, 1990, Stallones, 1990]. Etherton et al. [1991] found tractors to be responsible for 69% of machinery-related fatalities, while Gerberich et al. [1998] reported that 23% of machinery-related non-fatal injuries were attributable to tractors. Tractor overturns have been reported as the primary cause for the majority of tractor-related fatalities [Erlich et al., 1993, Jackson, 1983, Purschwitz and Field, 1990]. Tractors are also associated with a large number of non-fatal agriculture injuries [Bancej and Arbuckle, 2000, Brison and Pickett, 1992, Cordes and Foster, 1988, Fuortes et al., 1990, Layde et al., 1995, Lee et al., 1996, May, 1990]. In 2005, a rate of 2.4 non-fatal, days-away-from-work tractor injuries per 10,000 full-time workers was reported for the natural resources and mining industry.
Although tractors are consistently identified as a major source of agricultural
injury, many studies present tractors and machinery in one category, limiting
the specificity of risk factor identification that can be attributed to tractors
[Carlson et al., 2005]. Information is also limited regarding the spectrum of
tractor-related injuries, including nonfatal events [Lee et al., 1996]. This
paper presents a case-based research study that investigated tractor-related
agricultural injuries. The objectives of this study were to analyze workers’
compensation (WC) claims data to: 1) determine the medical and indemnity costs
of tractor-related and tractor overturn injuries and 2) determine factors associated
with tractor-related and tractor overturn injuries.
Workers’ compensation injury claims data from California and Colorado were used to analyze tractor-related injuries. Descriptive analyses of the costs (medical and indemnity) and consequences (injury type, cause, and body location) of injuries were conducted. The epidemiological agent-host-environment model was used to analyze injury event descriptions to determine the contributing factors of these injuries.
A total of 757 tractor-related claims from Colorado (N = 642) (from 1992 to 2004) and California (N = 115) (from 1994 to 2004) were analyzed. A total of 24 tractor-overturn injury events were also analyzed. Body parts locations of tractor-related injuries were lower (29.7%) and upper extremities (24.7%), the spine and back (12.2%), multiple body parts (9.1%) and the face (7.4%). The major types of tractor-related injuries included sprains/strains (33.5%), followed by contusions (24.8%) and fractures/dislocations (9.9%); lacerations (12%), foreign bodies (3.3%) and other injuries (3.8%) comprised the remaining major proportions. Of the 130 mounting/dismounting related injuries, 35% involved the ankle and 15% involved the knee.
The highest proportion of tractor-related injuries (65.8%) occurred from April through September, while a quarter of injuries occurred in May and June. Only 19.3% of injuries occurred from November through February. Chi square goodness of fit analysis revealed significant non-uniform monthly variation of tractor-related injuries (X2= 82.11, 11 df, p < .001), and Edwards’ chi square analysis [Edwards, 1961] revealed a significant seasonal variation of tractor-related injuries (X2= 75.79, 2 df, p < .001).
Nearly three-quarters of the 642 Colorado tractor-related injury claims were medical-only claims (71.8%), not requiring paid time-off from work. More than one quarter (28.1%) of all claims had medical as well as indemnity (paid time-off) costs. The median medical claim cost for Colorado claims was $319, and the median indemnity claim cost was $0. The median medical plus indemnity cost total for Colorado tractor-related injury claims was $335. The California dataset was not separated by medical from indemnity claim costs, but a summed total of the combined costs were provided for each claim. The median and mean medical plus indemnity cost for California tractor-related injury claims were $3,162 and $48,454, respectively. The median and mean medical plus indemnity cost for Colorado tractor overturn injury claims were $338 and $28,764 respectively, and the median and mean medical plus indemnity cost for California tractor overturn injury claims were $37,150 and $65,062 respectively.
Narrative analysis of injury event descriptions using the agent-host-environmental
model assisted in the identification of factors associated with tractor-related
injury claims. Nearly 8% of claims indicated the worker was attaching an implement
or load, and 7% of injuries occurred while the worker was driving the tractor.
A large proportion (20%) of descriptions indicated the worker was mounting or
dismounting the tractor at the time of injury. In addition to mounting/dismounting
activities, a total of 63 claims (10%) indicated the worker fell, jumped, or
slipped off a tractor. A total of 15 claims indicated that the worker was injured
as a result of being hit by a tractor bucket, and 8 claims indicated a tractor
rolled over a worker. Seven claims involved a body part getting caught in a
power take off. Despite limited environmental information, cold, ice, snow,
mud, and driving on slopes or over holes were frequently mentioned as a contributing
factor. A weather-related factor was mentioned in 5% of the claims, and 4.5%
of claims mentioned a terrain factor. Seven of the 13 Colorado tractor-overturns
involved driving on an incline or slope. Nearly 8% of claims identified the
location of the injury event as taking place between the tractor and implement.
Through an analysis of 757 tractor-related WC injury claims, it was possible to evaluate specific characteristics and consequences of non-fatal tractor-related injuries among hired farmworkers. While not population-based, this case-based study of WC data regarding tractor-related injuries enhances the knowledge base of previous efforts pertinent to non-fatal tractor-related injuries in agriculture. The WC data analyzed in this study helped identify contributing factors to tractor-related injuries and associated costs (medical and indemnity). Tractor mounting and dismounting activities are a significant contributor to non-fatal tractor-related injuries.
The finding of a large proportion of injury claims associated with tractor
mounting and dismounting activities suggests a need to further investigate specific
tractor design characteristics. The results of the present study can be utilized
in the development of safer tractor design characteristics.
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