Validation of Self-Reported Power Take-Off Shielding Using On-Site Farm Audits

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Safety and Health
• Occupational Biomechanics
• Farm Machinery Safety

Background:

• Power take-off (PTO) entanglements are a significant cause of injury and death for farm workers.
• The actual prevalence of proper PTO shielding on U.S. farms is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the extent of proper PTO shielding on New York farms.
• To compare the accuracy of phone surveys versus on-site audits in evaluating PTO shielding.

Main Methods:

• Phone surveys were conducted with over 1000 farms across various agricultural sectors.
• On-site audits assessed PTO shielding on a subset of livestock and dairy farms.
• Data from phone surveys and on-site audits were compared.

Main Results:

• Phone surveys indicated high PTO shielding rates (72.5% of farms, 90.2% of implements).
• On-site audits revealed much lower rates: only 10% of farms had all implements shielded, with a mean of 56.7% shielded.
• Phone surveys significantly overestimated the actual PTO shielding levels.

Conclusions:

• Actual PTO shielding on farms is lower than self-reported rates suggest.
• Phone surveys are unreliable for assessing on-farm safety risks like PTO shielding.
• Current shielding levels fall short of industry safety standards, indicating a need for improved safety measures.