The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #68814

Jamie L. Zentner, MPH¹, Barbara Marlenga, PhD², Richard Berg, MS¹, and William Pickett, PhD³. (1) Marshfield Medical Research and Education Foundation, 1000 North Oak Avenue, Marshfield, WI 54449, 715-389-7723, zentner.jamie@mcrf.mfldclin.edu, (2) National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, 1000 North Oak Avenue, Marshfield, WI 54449, (3) Emergency Medicine Research, Queen's University, Angada 3, Kingston General Hospital, 76 Stuart Street, Kingston, ON K7L 2V7, Canada

Farmers acknowledge agriculture as a hazardous occupation yet they expose their children to farm work. We don’t know whether farm parents perceive farming as a risk to their children and if this perceived risk motivates them to make farm work safer for their children. Our purpose was to 1) describe farm parents’ perception of risk on their farm and 2) determine if their perceived risk was associated with the use of the North American Guidelines for Children’s Agricultural Tasks (NAGCAT) and changes made to enhance the safety of farm work. A secondary analysis was conducted on data collected from 450 farms in Canada and United States. Farm parents were questioned about 1) their perception of risk on farms and ranches; 2) their use of NAGCAT in assigning work to children; and 3) the safety-related changes made on the farm. Farm parents perceived some degree of risk on the farm. The perception of risk was significantly associated with both the utilization of NAGCAT and the number of safety related changes made on their farm. The correlation coefficient between farm parents’ perception of risk and farm change scores was .116 (p=.0145). The correlation coefficient between farm parents’ perception of risk and use of NAGCAT was .120 (p=.0118). Even among the parents who perceived the highest risk on their farm, many did not use NAGCAT or report safety related changes made on the farm. It is likely that other factors influence parents’ decision to make farm work safer for their children.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to:
• describe farmers’ perception of risk on their farm and
• evaluate the association of farmers’ perception of risk and changes made to enhance the safety of their children on the farm.

Keywords: Agricultural Work Safety, Children and Adolescents

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.