An Overview of the NIOSH 

Agricultural Injury Surveillance 

Program
Agricultural safety and health has been an 

important focus of the National Institute 

for Occupational Safety and Health 

(NIOSH) for more than 20 years.
How it began...

1990 - Congress designated NIOSH to lead a 

comprehensive national effort to prevent 

occupational injuries and disease in agriculture
NIOSH Agricultural Programs

NIOSH programs directed by Congress

 Agricultural Health and Safety Initiative

 Childhood Agricultural Injury Prevention Initiative
Agricultural Health and Safety 

Initiative

• Initiated to reduce the occurrence of occupational injuries 

and illnesses on farms in the US

• NIOSH has worked with USDA, NASS to track occupational 

injuries and the presence of tractor safety devices on farms 

since 1993
Childhood Agricultural Injury 

Prevention Initiative

• NIOSH initiative to reduce injuries to youth on farms in the US

• Tracking injuries is a major part of the initiative. Includes both 

work and non-work injuries
Initial Efforts

1993

Farm Family Health and Hazard Survey 

Traumatic Injury Surveillance of Farmers (TISF)

1999

Childhood Agricultural Injury Survey (CAIS)

2001

Occupational Injury Surveillance of Production Agriculture (OISPA)
NIOSH Farm Operator Surveys

Adult Occupational Farm Injury Studies:

• All farms (TISF) -- 1993-1995

• All farms (OISPA) -- 2001, 2004, 2009, 2012, 2014

• Minority farms (M-OISPA) – 2003, 2008

Childhood Agricultural Injury Studies:

• All farms (CAIS) -- 1998, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2014

• Minority farms (M-CAIS) -- 2000, 2003, 2008

Farm Hazard Assessments:

• All Farms (FSS) -- 2006 and 2011
National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) 

Injury Supplement

• Supplement collects injury data for hired crop workers

• Years of data collection completed:

• Period I - 1999, 2002-2004

• Period II - 2008-2010
Data Summary

Childhood Agricultural Injury

• Injuries to all youth on farms decreased 63% (37,400 to 13,996)

• Work-related farm injuries to youth decreased 82% (16,695 to 2,739)

• Injury rates for farm household youth decreased 51% (16.6/1,000 youth to 8.1/1,000 

youth)

Adult Occupational Injury

• Adult work-related farm injuries have declined 30% (87,503 to 61,057)

• Work injuries to farm household members have declined 22% (56,661 to 43,987)

NAWS – injury supplement

• Injury rate for hired crop workers decreased 33% (4.3 to 2.9/100 FTEWB)
Current Data Collection

CAIS/OISPA

Data are currently being collected for calendar year 2014

NAWS – injury supplement

Data are currently being collected for 2014-2015 cycle
Public Access to Data Tables

CAIS - http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/childag/CAIS/default.html

Youth Injuries - General Farm Population

M-CAIS - http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/childag/MCAIS/default.html

Youth Injuries - Minority Operated Farms

OISPA – http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/aginjury/oispa/default.html

Adult Occupational Injuries – General Farm Population

M-OIPSA - http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/aginjury/m-oispa/default.html

Adult Occupational Injuries – Minority Operated Farms

FSS - http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/aginjury/fss/default.html

Farm Hazards - General Farm Population
Change to NIOSH Agricultural 

Surveillance

Surveillance efforts involving surveys through the U.S. 

Department of Labor’s NAWS – Injury Supplement and 

the U.S. Department of Agriculture (farm operator 

surveys) will be discontinued
Affected Data

• The numbers of youth living on, visiting, and working on farms

• The numbers and rates of injury for youth who live and work on 

farms

• The numbers and rates of injuries to adults who work on farms

• The numbers of tractors not equipped with ROPS

• Injury information for hired crop workers

• Data on farm hazards, such as silos and manure storage
• Decreases in the number of on-farm injuries for youth and adults require 

increased sample sizes to provide stable injury estimates

• NIOSH does not have the resources to support the cost of the increased 

sample size

• NIOSH is exploring ways to improve agriculture injury surveillance for the 

future.

• Information gathered from stakeholders and peers in this meeting and 

submitted to the docket will be used to propose future directions for NIOSHsupported agricultural surveillance

Why this change is necessary
Comment Submission

Comments must reference Docket : CDC-2015-0005; NIOSH-281

Submit to:

http://www.regulations.gov 

or

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

NIOSH Docket Office

1090 Tusculum Avenue MS C-34

Cincinnati, Ohio 45226-1998.

Written comments must be submitted by May 27, 2015
For more information please contact:

Kitty Hendricks - khendricks@cdc.gov 

1095 Willowdale Rd, MS – 1808

Morgantown, WV 26505

Telephone: 304-285-6252

The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do 

not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention.