Worker injuries involving the interaction of cattle, cattle handlers, and farm structures or equipment

摘要

Cattle have been identified as leading sources of injuries to agriculturalworkers. The present study focused on worker injuries that involved the interaction ofcattle, cattle handlers, and farm structures or equipment. The goal of the study was toidentify opportunities for injury prevention. We examined 221 reports of injury to cattlehandlers from the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Electronic InjurySurveillance System (NEISS). Expected interactions led to many of the cattle-handlinginjuries reported in the NEISS database. In almost 30% of cases, cattle pushed workersinto structures such as fences, gates, posts, and walls. In another 16% to 19% of injuries,cattle struck gates and other objects, propelling them at the victims. The present researchmakes several important contributions to the study of cattle-handling injuries. First, theresearch supports an increased emphasis on the development of safer gate designs (e.g.,gates that are remotely operated or that absorb energy to limit the speed at which theymay be propelled by animals). Second, the research suggests a need for additional studyof energy-absorbing fence and wall structures. We view these two points to be of significancebecause gates and associated structures (e.g., posts, fences, and walls) accountedfor 45% of the injuries in the dataset, based on the associated injury narrative. Finally,the research identifies a previously unexplored source of agricultural injury data, namelythe NEISS database.