Safety and health perceptions and concerns of custom harvesters

This study elicited the perceptions and concerns of custom harvesters regarding safety and health issues faced in their operations, self-perceived knowledge of selected regulations, and self-perceived ability to train employees on the safe operation of equipment. The average age of custom harvesters' (CH) employees was 22 to 25 years (47.2%). The most common length of the harvest season was 5 to 6 months (70.9%). The most common responses to length of work day were 9 to 11 hours (34.5%) and 12 to 14 hours (54.5%). In general, CH ranked combine operation experience as most important when hiring employees. The CH felt inexperience was the leading contributor to lost-time incidents. They were most concerned about DOT regulations and Worker's Compensation rules, but also felt they had a good knowledge of those areas.