The Climate of Working Alone in Agriculture

U.S. safety regulations pertaining to lone workers have had generally little impact on agricultural workers. Enhanced agricultural mechanization has led to an increased role of lone workers and potential risks of lone worker incidents. Practices and technologies used in other industries have potential application to agricultural workplaces to enhance lone worker safety. There is a need to incorporate evidence-based content on lone-worker safety and health in current education programs targeting agricultural workers.

A relatively unique aspect of agricultural work, as compared to most other industries, is the frequency that workers are involved in performing hazardous tasks while working alone. A review of current U.S. regulatory requirements related to lone workers found that most current regulations do not apply nor are they enforced in agricultural workplaces. Requirements such as having multiple workers and/or supervisors present when entering confined spaces, maintaining supervision over young and beginning workers, providing communication aids for lone workers, and utilizing wearable sensing technology have had little impact on general agricultural production practices. It was concluded that modern communication technologies have improved the ability to contact and track those who are working alone. However, utilization of these technologies to lone workers in agriculture was found to be generally lacking. More needs to be done to make agricultural workers aware of the best practices that could reduce the frequency and severity of the incidents most likely to result in an injury or death.