Agricultural Accidents in a District / 日本農村医学会雑誌

ABSTRACT

The survey was done in a district where the mechanization of agriculture had advanced and part-time farming had been prevailing.<BR>Agricultural accidents, picked up from the insurance documents of the Agricultural Cooperative Association from 1977 to 1981, were analyzed statistically.<BR>Results obtained are as follows.<BR>1, The agricultural machines related to accidents were two-wheel tractors, combines, grass cutters and four-wheel tractors. These four types of machines occupied 72% of all accidents.<BR>2. The accidents were observed most frequently in busy seasons i. e. spring and autumn, and from 10 to 11 a.m. and 3 to 5 p.m. in a day.<BR>3. Because of part-time farming, one third of the accidents occured on Sundays and national holidays.<BR>4. The accidents by two-wheel tractors and four-wheel tractors occured on the road, 67% and 49% respectively. There occured 86% of the accidents by combines in the field, and 85% of the injuries by combines were on hands and fingers. The injuries by grass cutters occured frequontly on legs and eyes, 58% and 18% respectively. One third of the eye injuries resulted in anopsia.<BR>5. There were few overlaps between the cases collected by the prefectural office and those from the insurance documents. Slight-injury cases were scarcely found in the insurance documents. These facts indicate the present information-collecting systems for the agricultural accidents are incomplete in this district.