Latest report: 33 kids injured each day in farming-related accidents

MARSHFIELD, Wis. (WSAW) - The National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety has released its latest report investigating the injuries children suffered while working in agriculture.

Marsha Salzwedel is a project scientist and agricultural youth safety specialist at the NIOSH-funded National Children’s Center. She said nearly every three days, a child dies in an agriculture-related incident.

“We hope this fact sheet helps everyone understand the severity of the problem,” Salzwedel said.

Youth worker fatalities in agriculture exceed all other industries combined, according to the 2022 Childhood Agricultural Injuries Fact Sheet. The fact sheet data includes children/youth under 18 from 2001-2021. From 2015-2017, as many as 79% of youth under age 18 were not working when injured on a farm.

Additionally, each day, at least 33 children are seriously injured.

Leading reported sources of fatalities involved transportation (47%), which includes tractors and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), and contact with machinery (20 percent) such as being pinned between a skid steer’s lift arms and frame.

Other notable statistics on injuries among youth:

Youth under age 16 have 12 times the risk of ATV injuries (both fatal and non-fatal) compared to adults.
From 2001 to 2015, 48 percent of all fatal occupational injuries to young workers occurred in agriculture.
There are over four times more actual occupational injuries than are reported. As many as 88 percent of agricultural injuries and illnesses are not captured by traditional surveillance methods.

Bryan Weichelt, Ph.D., associate research scientist, led the compilation of the fact sheet, alongside, Rick Burke, M.P.H.

“There is no central database on childhood agricultural injuries in the U.S.,” Weichelt said. “In putting together this fact sheet we drew upon the best available data from a variety of sources.”

Click here to view the fact sheet.