[The most frequent injury with mechanical corn picker during harvest--possibility of prevention]

Inappropriate machine operating, long work hours and decreased concentration of machine operators create conditions for getting injured A corn picker is the most often cause of hand injuries among agricultural machineries.

The study included 43 persons with hand injuries during corn harvest, treated in the four-year period (2006-2009). The study subjects were analysed by sex, age, season, type of injury, affected parts of the hands, length of treatment and data on being trained to work with the corn picker.

In the observed period hand injuries caused by a corn picker occurred 10.75 times a year on average on the territory gravitating to the Clinical Centre of Vojvodina. The most frequent hand injuries were recorded in male operators, most of them aged 21-59, and the greatest number of injuries happened in October. According to the type, crushing of hand was the dominant type of injury. Fingers of hand were most frequently grabbed The average duration of treatment was 14.37 days, and the majority of patients were treated in hospital up to 14 days.

The average occurrence of hand injuries reported in this paper is significantly lower than it was reported in one study conducted earlier. The data regarding training to operate the respective machinery indicate that 93.2% of the injured have not been trained appropriately, and 37.12% did not have any personal protective devices. Training of farmers to operate agricultural machinery should be carried out continually in future, as it has been regulated by the Law on Safety at Work and Health.