2022 Pennsylvania Farm Fatal Injury Summary

This report summarizes Pennsylvania's farm fatality data for 2022. In that year there were 37 known farm and agricultural fatalities in Pennsylvania. This is a significant increase from the 16 fatalities documented in 2021 and also greater than the longer-term average; for example, the annual average from 2015-2019 was 27 fatalities.

In order to compile the annual report, we use following three sources of data: death certificates from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, media reports of farm-related fatalities, and Aginjurynews.org. These three data sources are cross-referenced and checked for duplication and non-farming incidents.

Victim Demographics

Table 1 provides summary demographic statistics of the 2022 fatality cases. Data once again suggest that the very young and older adults may be at higher risk of fatal incidents. Eight of the cases were in adults 65 years and older and six were aged 10 and under. Consistent with previous years, all victims under the age of 10 were thought to be Anabaptist.

In a typical year all victims are male; however, in 2022 four of the victims were female but three of those were injured in a single farm equipment roll-over incident. The fourth female victim died from injuries sustained in an ATV rollover. Three of the four female victims were aged 14 or younger.

Farm and Agricultural Injury Coding

The Farm and Agricultural Injury Classification (FAIC) Code is a classification scheme used to separate out incidents not related to work in production agriculture. FAIC codes allow identification of farm production work cases as well as unique situational exposures in production agriculture (e.g., non-workers in work environments). Table 2 provides a summary of FAIC classification of Pennsylvania's 2021 fatalities. Twenty-seven of the 37 fatality cases (73%) happened in an agricultural occupation position with 26 injuries classified as FAIC-1 Farm Production Work.

*Note: totals will not add to 37 given some unknown incident details

Fatalities by Injury Source

Since 2000, fatality reports have been used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS) to characterize primary and secondary sources of injury. The source of injury or illness identifies the object, bodily motion, or exposure which directly produced or inflicted the previously identified injury or illness. For example, if the worker was operating a farm tractor when it rolled over onto the victim, the source would be the farm tractor.

The OIICS system was utilized to categorize each fatality in a manner that is comparable across years and between states. Table 3 categorizes the fatal incidents by those sources and provides a brief description for each. Details of incidents are often not known or are limited and thus may not be provided for each individual case seen below.

Incident reports suggest that at least four of the fatalities were caused by roll-overs of tractors that were not equipped with a roll-over protection device. In some cases, the tractors ran over operators or overturned onto the operator. When operating a tractor, drivers should always wear the seatbelt if their tractor is equipped with the rollover protection structure (ROPS) when in motion. ROPS are 99.9% effective when combined with the use of a seatbelt for tractor rollovers.

Retrofit ROPS options are available for older farm tractors that pre-date ROPS as standard OEM equipment. More information can be found about retrofit options at National ROPS website. Penn State's Ag Safety & Health team is continuing its program to make funds available to Pennsylvania farmers to help offset the costs of tractor retrofits with a ROPS system. This funding was made available thanks to a grant from the PA Department of Economic and Community Development with support from Pennsylvania Legislators. Contact Peggy Newel (png1@psu.edu) for more information.

Summary

Pennsylvania had 37 farm and agricultural-related fatalities in 2022. As in previous years, farm machinery and equipment were the most prevalent source of the fatalities. We determined 16 of the 37 fatalities were related to tractors or tractors pulling a trailer. An additional six persons were killed when using other farm equipment such as a skid steer or trailer. Six out of the 12 adult victims 60 or older died because of a tractor-related incident. We continue to recommend that all Pennsylvania farmers, and their family members, take extra precautions when using or working around hazardous equipment.

There were three fatalities in children ages five and under in 2022. Due to this age group's inability to comprehend hazards and cause and effect, supervision of children by an adult and keeping the children in safe areas on the farm is the primary way to reduce these fatalities. Simple education, discussion about hazards, and setting boundaries for this preschool age group can help protect them from farm hazards such as manure pits, grain bins, and areas where tractor and equipment is being operated.

This year was marked by two events involving multiple casualties, both of which took more than one member of a single family. An event in July occurred when a farm tractor pulling a wagon with at least a dozen people overturned. Five persons, including four youth, were killed in this incident. The second event occurred in September when three members of one family died in a farm silo. Silos are a common location for farm fatalities and this year there were four known victims in Pennsylvania. All those persons were thought to have died due to silo gas exposure.

The number of fatalities in 2022 rose significantly from the previous year and was higher than the long-term average. We do not have an explanation for the increase from 2021, although it is possible that 2021 was anomalously low or our methods did not pick up all fatalities. The data we rely on is imperfect and some cases may have been missed, for example, by the Commonwealth's death certificates system.

The number of farm and agriculture-related fatalities continues to cause significant losses, both economic and human, that should be addressed by policymakers, educational institutions, and others charged with oversight of safety and health of Commonwealth citizens.