Objectives: Agriculture is the one of the hazardous industries in the world. Though there is significant investment in agricultural safety, machine injuries continue to be the leading cause of agriculture injuries worldwide. The objective of this study was to provide a comprehensive literature review on global patterns in agricultural machine injuries and establish a framework for future research aimed at addressing safety concerns in the agriculture sector.
Methods: The existing scholarship on farm machine injuries can be categorized into three main areas: a) farming machine/equipment injuries, b) factors associated with these injuries, and c) injury patterns.
Results: Overall, the findings highlight that farm tractors are the primary source of injuries for both fatal and non-fatal incidents regardless of region. Other common sources of injuries were harvesting machinery and hand/power tools in Asia, ATVs in North America and woodworking machinery in Europe. Inadequate training in operating farm equipment was reported as the most likely factor contributing to machine-related injuries. Lastly, the patterns of injuries vary based on the interaction between humans and machinery. For instance, rollovers often result in severe head and fracture injuries, while thresher incidents can lead to amputation of hands, arms, and other body parts.
Conclusion: Addressing these injuries by implementing safety protocols will not only enhance the well-being of farm workers but potentially attract more workers to the sector, which is currently experiencing labor shortages due to machine-related injuries.
Keywords: Farm machine injuries; farm equipment injuries; farm workers; health and safety; occupational injuries in agriculture.