Manitoba school-aged children appear to be getting the farm safety message.
Norma Alberg, an epidemiologist with Manitoba Labor, has crunched the numbers and found some encouraging trends. While the farm is still a dangerous place for kids, fewer are being killed or hospitalized because of farm-related injuries.
A decade ago, kids under 16 accounted for 16 percent of farm-related
hospitalizations. By 1996, they had dropped to eight percent.
During the past 14 years, no Manitoba child has died from injuries sustained after a farm accident, although a number have died in accidents.
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“I believe we’re making headway with children’s injuries,” said Alberg.
She presented her findings at the National Institute for Farm Safety conference held here last week.
Alberg had some theories about why injury rates in this age group dropped:
- Kids are in school most of the year and perhaps have strict rules about where they can play on the farm.
- Older children may be helping on the farm, but because of their age and inexperience, parents may be supervising them more.
- The drop could correspond with the start of Farm Safety 4 Just Kids chapters in Manitoba in the early 1990s.
- With more farmers relying on off-farm income, perhaps more children are spending more time at day care or with babysitters.
Alberg thinks someone should study the reasons for the drop to discover whether there are lessons that can be applied to other age groups.
Majority involve tractors
Tractors are the biggest cause of deaths on farms. Of the 11 children under age seven who died between 1983 and 1997, eight were run over by tractors. And 25 percent of teens ages 15 to 19 were killed by tractor rollovers.
Boys are more at risk of injuries from machinery, while girls face a greater risk from farm animals, said Alberg.
Overall, hospitalizations for farm injuries peaked in 1987-88, said Alberg, and have followed a steady downward trend since.
She noted fewer people farm now than 14 years ago, but said the drop in injuries seems “a little bit too dramatic just to be a population change.”
She also said the drop coincides with health-care reform and budget cuts.
“We’re trying to track hospitalization when hospitals are trying to push people out.”
Between 1983 and 1997, 121 people died on Manitoba farms, and up to 200 people ended up in hospital for injuries.
In total, they spent more than 15,000 days in hospital, at a cost of $800 to $1,000 per day.
