Occupational incidents with self-propelled machinery in Austrian agriculture

Tractors, self-propelled harvesting machinery, and material handling machinery are the most commonly used self-propelled machineries in Austrian agriculture, and they have similarities in main accident scenarios. Statistical data of all occupational incidents with these machines reported between 2008 and 2010 were analyzed to obtain information about the circumstances of the incidents, and about the victims and their work environments. Criteria of recognized occupational incidents provided by the Austrian Social Insurance Institution for Farmers were analyzed according to machinery category by means of cross-tabulation and chi-square tests. The results were discussed and evaluated in the context of the literature. The results of the analysis of the databases show that 786 occupational incidents with tractors, self-propelled harvesting machinery, and material handling machinery occurred in Austrian agriculture between 2008 and 2010. There were 231 occupational incidents in 2008; the number rose to 268 in 2009 and to 286 in 2010. A total of 41 incidents were fatal. For the machinery categories analyzed, the majority of injured victims were male, older than 40 years, Austrian citizens, and managers of a mixed-agricultural farm. A large number of the incidents occurred in all machinery categories by loss of control during operating a vehicle.