There are over two million full-time agricultural workers in the United States alone. Working in the agricultural industry in North Carolina means you are taking on some amount of risk. Often, farm workers are at a high risk of serious or fatal injury working on and around equipment.
In addition, individuals who live on the farm, such as family, can also experience some of risk. Farming is one of a few other industries where non-workers are also at risk of injury. Why is this? The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) better explains who may be at risk of farm injuries.
Understanding who is at risk also means you must understand that any individual who works around farm equipment or lives on property around farm equipment could be at risk. This goes for both youth and adult workers on the farms. Roughly 900,000 youth workers, under age 20, reside or work on farms, with approximately 454,000 of the youths performing work.
For every 100,000 farm workers, about 21 of them suffer a fatal injury while at work, which does not include fatalities. Roughly 100 workers suffer an injury that take them out of work every day with about 4,000 youths suffering injuries work on the farm.
The most dangerous and leading cause of death on the farm are transportation accidents, such as overturned tractors. Tractors and drivers without a rollover protective structure or seatbelts are more likely to suffer injuries, and unfortunately only a little over half of all tractors in the United States utilize this equipment.
This article is meant to inform readers on farming equipment hazards; it is not to be interpreted as legal advice to the reader.