Analysis of 17,906 Fatal Farm-Work Accidents in the United States, 1940-48

Excerpts: In the nine years from 1940 to 1948, accidents killed nearly 18,000 farm people according to records tabulated by State bureaus of vital statistics. This amounted to an average of 1,990 persons annually out of total farm population of about 28 million. There is reason to believe that most of these fatal accidents occurred in connection with farm work or allied activities. The wide range among areas in accident-frequency rates per 100,000 farm people, shown in table 1, also reflects chance variations and reporting failures, along with the real differences attributable to factors such as type of agriculture and extent of mechanization. Moreover, it is not likely that all of the accidents involving the extremely old and the extremely young occurred in connection with farm work. (See table 10.)