Robert "Brent" Crandall, D.O., treats minor to catastrophic injuries due to farm machinery and livestock.
"It breaks my heart when kids come in," said Dr. Crandall, medical director of the emergency department at the Kearney Regional Medical Center.
Many of the farm-related injuries he sees are from all-terrain vehicle (ATV) accidents – an average of 10 per year.
All too often, farmers and ranchers tip the ATV going around corners or while climbing steep hills. When the ATV flips over, the person is pinned, crushing bones and internal organs.
A 2013 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics study revealed that machinery accidents account for approximately 25 percent of all farm accidents. Other accidents are due to unsafe handling of livestock, grain hauling and storage and chemical use.
"These are the kind of stories we want to stop," said Ellen Duysen, coordinator of the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health (CS-CASH), at UNMC’s College of Public Health.
CS-CASH, one of 11 such centers funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, recently received another five-year grant for $6.9 million. The center’s projects and outreach span seven Midwestern states – Nebraska, Iowa, South and North Dakota, Minnesota, Missouri and Kansas.
"For the past 20 years, agriculture has been the most hazardous industry in the United States," said Risto Rautiainen, Ph.D., director of CS-CASH and professor of environmental, agricultural and occupational health in UNMC’s College of Public Health.
In 2014, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 24.9 fatalities per 100,000 workers in agriculture, compared to 3.3 per 100,000 workers in all industries combined.
The center hopes to impact – and save – lives through its research, outreach, intervention and education.
"We want all of our farmers and ranchers to be safe and healthy," Duysen said.
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Read more about the center’s projects.
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