DAVID BONAUTO
A Telephone Survey of Work and Injuries in Teenage Agricultural Workers in an Eastern Washington Community
Occupational Medicine, MPH
Preceptor: Matthew Keifer, MD, MPH
Agricultural work is unique among occupations in that it employs the labor of children and teenagers. Previous estimates of incidence rates for teenage agricultural occupational injuries depend on reporting sources that may give poor estimates of the number of injuries and the periods of exposure to agricultural work. This population based telephone survey randomly sampled households in the town of Sunnyside Washington to estimate the one year cumulative incidence of injuries related to agricultural work and to describe the work patterns and types of work children aged 13 - 19 performed. Of 621 teenagers identified, 200 (23%) did agricultural work in the previous year. The one year incidence of injury in agricultural teenage workers was 4.0 per 100 workers per year (95% CI ± 2.7). The one year incidence of injury in agricultural teenage workers was 16.6 per 100 FTE. Teenage agricultural workers who worked on family farms were more likely to work a greater number of seasons (p < 0.001), do agricultural work tasks involving driving, animal care and mechanic work (all with p < 0.001) and to work fewer number of hours per day (p < 0.001) than those teenagers who do not work on family owned farms. Teenage agricultural workers who work on non-family owned farms were more likely to be seasonal workers (p < 0.001), perform work in the harvest or field work (p < 0.001) and to work a greater number of hours per week(p < 0.001). The injury rate in teenage agricultural workers who worked on a family farm did not differ significantly from those who did not work on a family farm. Since farm ownership is associated with a being identified as non Hispanic, an analysis of Hispanic teenage agricultural workers compared to non-Hispanic teenage agricultural workers revealed similar findings. Future studies and injury prevention trials should account for different work patterns and injury exposures among populations of teenage agricultural workers.
