Abstract:
Agriculture is among the most dangerous industries in the U.S., yet routine surveillance of injury hazards is not currently being conducted on a national level. The objectives of this study were to describe a new tool, called the Hazard Assessment Checklist (HAC), to identify and characterize farm hazards that increase injury risk to farmers and farm workers, and (2) report the inter-rater reliability of the new tool when administered on row-crop farms in Iowa. Based on a literature review and a consensus of expert opinion, the HAC included hazards related to self-propelled vehicles, powered portable implements, fixed machinery and equipment, farm buildings and structures, fall risks, and portable equipment associated with fall risk. A scoring metric indicating the extent of compliance with recommended safety guidelines and standards was developed for each item of the HAC, which included compliant, minimal improvement needed, substantial improvement needed, and not compliant. Inter-rater reliability was assessed from data collected by research staff on 52 row crop farms in Iowa. Cohen\'s weighted Kappa values demonstrated high inter-rater reliability, ranging between 0.86 and 0.94, for all HAC sections. The HAC can be completed in 1.5-2 hours on each farm and requires about three hours of training, two hours of which are spent in field training. The ability to monitor injury-related hazards over time using an empirically driven tool will contribute significantly to injury prevention efforts in an industry with consistently high rates of fatal and nonfatal injury.
摘要:
农业是美国最危险的产业之一,然而,目前尚未在国家一级进行常规的伤害危害监测。这项研究的目的是描述一种新的工具,称为危险评估清单(HAC),识别和表征增加农民和农场工人受伤风险的农场危险,和(2)报告新工具在爱荷华州的作物农场管理时的评估者间可靠性。在文献综述和专家意见共识的基础上,HAC包括与自行式车辆有关的危险,电动便携式工具,固定机械设备,农场建筑物和结构,跌倒风险,以及与跌倒风险相关的便携式设备。为HAC的每个项目制定了评分指标,表明符合建议的安全准则和标准的程度,其中包括合规,需要最小的改进,需要实质性的改进,不服从。根据研究人员在爱荷华州52个行作物农场收集的数据评估了评估者之间的可靠性。科恩的加权Kappa值证明了较高的评分者间可靠性,对于所有HAC部分,范围在0.86和0.94之间。HAC可以在每个农场的1.5-2小时内完成,需要大约三个小时的培训,其中两个小时用于野外训练。使用经验驱动的工具随时间监测与伤害相关的危险的能力将大大有助于在致命和非致命伤害发生率一直很高的行业中进行伤害预防工作。