An assessment process to estimate the secondary injury potential of assistive technology adopted by farmers with disabilities

摘要

Farmers with disabilities frequently fabricate or modify devices and worksites - referred to collectively as assistive technology or AT - in order to continue performing required tasks on their farms. In some cases these adaptive aids have been documented to be the cause for secondary injury. Also, some farmers having disabilities are not able to fully benefit from traditional funding sources such as vocational rehabilitation agencies because such one-of-a-kind or personally fabricated technologies fall outside "normally" funded services whose primary concerns include the reliability of the AT and the potential liability issues if injuries occur. It is believed that an assessment process with the appropriate empirical support to indicate the potential for secondary injuries with a reasonable degree of reliability may decrease the chances of injuries as well as reduce barriers to achieving employment and independence because of limited access to funding sources. Ten on-site case studies of farmers with disabilities who fabricated AT for personal use were carried out and summarized. Potential causative factors for secondary injuries were identified and a consolidated list of the factors was formulated. Further, a survey of rehabilitation professionals associated with USDA AgrAbility project, experienced in working with farmers having disabilities, was conducted to identify their perception of the significance of the injury potential based on the list of case-studies-identified factors. Relevant ANSI/ASAE and SAE standards, OSHA workplace safety regulations and current agricultural workplace safe work practices were referenced both to assess compliance with applicable safety standards and as a source of the state-of-the-art design practices. The findings will be used to develop a prototype of an assessment process that would provide a consistent means of successfully identifying potential risks to users of AT in agricultural workplaces. The desired outcomes included steps to (a) minimize secondaryinjuries caused by ATs, (b) help farmers with disabilities obtain funding for the purchase or fabrication of ATs and (c) train rehabilitation professionals who work with farmers to identify potential disability related-hazards. This paper reports on findings associated with the causation factors identified through the review of literature, a review of relevant standards, completion of both on-site case studies and survey of rehabilitation professionals.