Tractor risk abatement and control as a coherent strategy

The agricultural tractor was the principal source of fatal injury on American farms for the latter part of the 20th century, and they maintain that distinction today. Much has been learned about the toll of these fatalities and how to prevent them over the last ten years, yet public policy has generally been unsuccessful in reducing this toll. A policy conference entitled Tractor Risk Abatement and Control convened in 1997 to develop recommendations to reduce this death toll. Several stakeholders at the conference agreed on 25 action items, which if implemented would reduce the number of tractor-related deaths by more than 2,000 by the year 2015. These recommendations relate to tractor overturns, runovers, and traffic collisions as well as youth operators. This article addresses the completeness of a strategy for preventing tractor-related injuries for each of these four areas based upon an evaluation model derived from the Theory of Planned Behavior and an antecedent model. The ultimate result of this model is to influence an individual's intention to act to prevent injury. The set of recommendations was found to provide a coherent strategy. In addition, implementing the strategy at an organizational level is discussed.