Media Release: Fatal farm injuries to Canadian children

Injury Prevention Centre

EDMONTON, AB, 1 September 2020 —/COMMUNITYWIRE/— The Injury Prevention Centre invites the media to learn about how children on Canadian farms are at high risk for fatal injury. This recently published Canadian analysis describes trends in fatal farm injury to children and young workers.

Farming has long been recognized as a hazardous occupation, both in Canada and in other Countries. The findings of this research call into question the effectiveness of pediatric farm safety initiatives that primarily focus on education. Second, surveillance of hospitalized injuries has been disbanded and the fatality records require updating. The article was published 6 August 2020 in the journal of Preventative Medicine.

Highlights:

• While annual counts of injuries declined over the study period, annual fatality rates remained unchanged
• Injuries caused by all-terrain vehicles, skid steer loaders, and drowning emerged during recent years

“Findings from this national analysis, conducted with data spanning 23 years, are simple and telling. While many well-intended prevention efforts aimed at child safety on the family farm have been implemented in Canada over this time period, these initiatives appear to have ultimately been ineffective at achieving their end goal of reducing fatalities to farm children.”

Authors:

Dr. Donald C. Voaklander, Colleen Drul, Dr. Kathy L. Belton
Injury Prevention Centre, School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

Dr. Josie M. Rudolphi
Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA

Richard Berg
Biomedical Informatics Research Center, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, Marshfield, WI, USA

Dr. William Pickett
Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

Link to the article online:
http://ow.ly/ajur50AYS0E

Media Inquiries

Katrina Whiteman
Communications Coordinator
kwhiteman@ualberta.ca
Cell: 780.720.6357
Injury Prevention Centre
School of Public Health, University of Alberta
Facebook & Twitter: @StopInjury