A correction factor for estimating statewide agricultural injuries from ambulance reports

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Public Health Surveillance
• Agricultural Safety

Background:

• Agriculture is a hazardous industry with significant injury risks.
• Existing agricultural injury surveillance systems lack comprehensiveness for fatal and serious non-fatal injuries.
• Effective surveillance is crucial for identifying and mitigating agricultural hazards.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a multiplier for estimating total agricultural injuries based on ambulance report data.
• To assess the feasibility of using ambulance report 'farm box' indicators for injury surveillance.
• To improve the accuracy of agricultural injury data by incorporating community surveillance.

Main Methods:

• Farm injuries from 2007 in 10 New York counties were identified using ambulance reports and community surveillance.
• A multiplier was calculated by comparing ambulance report data (farm box checked) with identified agricultural injuries.
• The developed multiplier was applied to the statewide Emergency Medical Services database.

Main Results:

• Out of 25,735 injury-related ambulance runs, 90 had the 'farm box' checked, with 63 confirmed as agricultural.
• An additional 59 agricultural injuries were identified from free text in ambulance reports.
• Community surveillance identified 24 unique cases, leading to a total of 142 cases and a multiplier of 1.578.

Conclusions:

• A cost-effective method for estimating state-wide agricultural injuries was established.
• The ambulance report method, while cost-effective, requires labor-intensive methods for individual case identification.
• Integrating community surveillance enhanced the injury estimation multiplier by 17%.