Little emphasis has been placed on researching the chronic effects of long-term exposure to pesticides and other farm chemicals. Farm operators and family members are aware of the dangers in farming, but may make decisions that under more ideal conditions would have been considered too dangerous. A large number of children are injured on farms each year. The farm is also often the home, and the children play on or near machinery. Sometimes children of migrant workers are injured as well.
Most traumatic injuries involve machinery, with tractors being involved in most fatal accidents.
Education, properly planned and executed, holds a great potential for improving farm safety. Farm safety education programs are most effective when operators, family members, farm workers, manufacturers, researchers, and farm safety specialists are all involved in program development. This report reviews current data sources and selected research concerning farm safety. Instead, its aim is to provide a synopsis of farm safety data and research that will help guide researchers and policymakers in their efforts to reduce injuries and illnesses on farms. More specifically, this report provides background to illustrate the continued need for farm safety research, highl ghts and evaluates national sources of data applicable to farm safety, and examines research in some of the major problem areas in farm safety.