Top Farming Accidents and How to Prevent Them
Whether it’s a small family farm or a large commercial operation, the risk of farming accidents is ever-present when day-to-day tasks include driving ATVs and other vehicles, operating heavy machinery, managing large animals, and navigating weather-related challenges.
Workers' compensation for farm operations plays a vital role in helping to protect both employers and their workforce. In this article, we’ll break down the most common sources of agricultural accident claims, explore best practices for farm safety, and highlight proactive strategies to reduce risk.
Most Common Agricultural Accident Claims
While farms and other agribusiness face a wide range of risks, certain farming accidents occur more often than others. Understanding these common sources of farm-related workers’ compensation claims can help you take targeted steps to improve workplace safety and help protect your agriculture workers.
1. Vehicle-Related Accidents
Incidents involving tractors, ATVs, utility trucks, and other farming vehicles are a leading cause of agricultural accident claims. Rollovers, collisions, and crush events can all lead to costly workers’ compensation claims and extended downtime for your operation.
Risk Management Tips to Help Prevent Vehicle-Related Accidents:
- Hire thoughtfully and train thoroughly: Establish clear hiring criteria for vehicle operators, conduct new driver orientations, and provide routine training sessions.
- Implement farm safety policies: Promote safe following distances, ban distracted driving, and establish clear accountability measures.
- Use vehicle safety technology: Install collision mitigation systems and telematics to monitor behavior and encourage the use of advanced safety features like electronic stability control (ESC).
2. Equipment-Related Accidents
From power tools to grain bins, farming equipment is a common source of agricultural accidents. These incidents can lead to lacerations, amputations, crush injuries, and suffocation or engulfment. The severity of these injuries can lead to costly claims, extended recovery times, and even fatalities.
Risk Management Tips to Help Prevent Equipment-Related Accidents:
- Maintain tools and machinery: Keep up with routine maintenance, ensure equipment is properly cleaned, and conduct regular safety inspections.
- Train for safe operation: Provide clear, documented training on safe use of power tools tools, machinery, and heavy equipment.
- Control access to confined spaces: Implement lockout/tagout procedures and provide training before any entry into grain bins or silos.
- Provide personal protective equipment (PPE): Supply workers with gloves, eye protection, and other appropriate safety gear for the tasks at hand.
- Post safety signage: Place clear warnings near machinery and confined spaces to reinforce safety protocols and promote worker safety.
3. Heat-Related Illnesses
Working long hours in direct sun or high humidity can put agriculture employees at serious risk for heat-related illnesses, including dehydration, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, cramps, and rashes. These conditions can escalate quickly, leading to medical emergencies and preventable workers’ compensation claims.
Risk Management Tips of Help Prevent Heat-Related Illnesses:
- Plan around the heat: Schedule physically demanding tasks earlier in the day to avoid peak heat hours.
- Implement heat acclimatization: Gradually increase outdoor workloads over several days to help workers adjust to high temperatures.
- Follow water-rest-shade protocols: Ensure easy access to drinking water, provide shaded rest areas, and schedule regular cool-down breaks.
- Provide appropriate PPE: Equip workers with lightweight, breathable clothing, wide-brim hats, cooling vests, and UV-protective gear.
4. Slips, Trips, and Falls
Slips, trips, and falls are one of the leading causes of workers’ compensation claims across all industries — and agriculture is no exception. From ladders and haylofts to grain bins and uneven terrain, the risk of injury is high without proper precautions. These incidents can often result in sprains, fractures, and head injuries.
Risk Management Tips to Help Prevent Slips, Trips, and Falls:
- Use proper fall protection: Equip workers with harnesses, guardrails, and slip-resistant footwear when working at height or on unstable surfaces.
- Maintain walking surfaces: Repair uneven ground, clean up spills promptly, and ensure adequate lighting in work areas.
- Implement training: Provide clear instruction on safe ladder use and establish procedures for climbing in and out of machinery or elevated areas.
- Post safety signage: Use signage to call attention to fall hazards around high-traffic areas and vertical access points.
5. Repetitive Motion Injuries
Whether it’s bending, lifting, reaching, or sorting, many tasks in agriculture involve repetitive motion or awkward positioning. Over time, these activities can lead to musculoskeletal injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, joint pain, and back issues.
Risk Management Tips to Help Prevent Repetitive Motion Injuries:
- Provide ergonomic tools: Use equipment designed to reduce awkward wrist, shoulder, or back positions.
- Rotate tasks: Shift employees between different types of work to reduce strain on the same muscle groups.
- Teach proper lifting techniques: Train workers to lift with their legs, not their backs, and to avoid twisting while carrying loads.
- Build in rest periods: Encourage regular breaks to help muscles recover and prevent overuse.
- Promote early reporting: Foster a culture where workers can speak up about soreness, numbness, and fatigue.
6. Animal-Related Incidents
Working with livestock poses unique and unpredictable risks. Even experienced handlers can suffer serious injuries from kicks, bites, charges, or being pinned. These incidents can lead to a wide range of outcomes, including soft tissue injuries, broken bones, or even fatalities.
Risk Management Tips to Prevent Animal-Related Incidents:
- Limit exposure: Assign animal handling tasks to experienced workers and avoid overcrowded or rushed environments.
- Implement training: Establish clear protocols for approaching, feeding, and moving animals safely.
- Install safe enclosures: Use proper fencing, gates, and chutes to reduce close contact and improve animal control.
- Know the warning signs: Train employees to identify stress behaviors or agitation in animals.
- Provide appropriate PPE: Supply sturdy boots, gloves, and other PPE to help prevent injuries.
Prevention Through the Hierarchy of Hazard Control
A proactive approach to farm safety starts with understanding how to prioritize risk reduction. The Hierarchy of Controls is a widely accepted framework that identifies and ranks safety measures from most to least effective — starting with elimination and ending with personal protective equipment. Here’s how it can be applied in agriculture:
- Elimination: Remove the hazard entirely when possible. For example, replacing manual lifting of heavy hay bales with an automated conveyor system eliminates the need for workers to perform the hazardous lifting task.
- Substitution: Replace dangerous practices or materials with safer alternatives, like using smaller or lighter feed bags to minimize lifting strain.
- Engineering Controls: Modify the environment or equipment to reduce risk. This might include installing hoists for heavy lifting and guards on machinery.
- Administrative Controls: Adjust how the work is organized. For example, rotate job tasks, schedule structured breaks, and provide ongoing safety training.
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): As the last line of defense, provide workers with gloves, eye protection, and other task-appropriate gear.
Comprehensive Agricultural Safety Programs
Building a safety program that fits your operation’s specific needs is one of the most effective ways to support worker safety and reduce farming accidents. Every farm is different, and site-specific safety measures can make a significant difference in preventing injuries and avoiding costly workers’ compensation claims. Our risk control resources can help guide the development of a tailored plan, including components like:
- Equipment and tool maintenance
- Heat stress protocols
- Fall prevention strategies
- Ergonomics for repetitive tasks
- Chemical and pesticide exposure controls
- Hygiene and sanitation facilities
- Farming vehicle safety
- Power Take-Off (PTO) shaft hazard education
Help Protect Your Farm and Team
Agriculture is a high-risk industry for workplace injuries, but with a robust, site-specific safety program, many incidents can be prevented. A strong workers’ compensation policy adds an essential layer of protection, offering financial security for both farm owners and employees when covered events occur.
Connect with an agent today to get a quote and learn how Westfield goes beyond the policy with risk management resources, safety program support, and claims expertise tailored to the unique demands of agribusiness.