[Agricultural accidents in children. Causes, consequences and possibilities of prevention]

Agricultural accidents in childhood not seldom lead to mutilation and invalidity. At the Pediatric Surgical Hospital in Graz 272 children were treated because of agricultural accidents between 1975 and 1978. Children younger than ten years of age, especially preschool children, are mostly afflicted. 56 percent of the injuries, most of them serious, happened by the use of agricultural machines, tractors included. Proposals for the prevention of agricultural accidents in childhood are presented.