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Injured parties

Fractures most common
Long hours on the farm make injury more likely
Low receipts = fewer hours = lower injury rate

Large animals remain one of the greatest hazards to farmers’ wellbeing. Six of the top 10 farm types ranked by incidence of injury being farms with cattle, pigs or horses, according to the injuries reported to the 2001 Census of Agriculture. Within these six farm types, 3.9% of the operators reported an injury requiring medical attention or lost work time, compared with 3.2% of all operators.

Fractures most common

The most common injury among all farm operators reporting injuries that required medical attention or time off work was in the "fracture" category (21%). Open wounds were reported by 19%. The third most common were "nerve or spinal cord" injuries at 14.7%, followed by "sprains or strains" at 14.2%.

Male operators, probably because they spend more hours working on the farm than women, are more susceptible than their female counterparts, with an injury rate of 3.7%, compared with 1.9% for women. Age seems to have little bearing on farmers' susceptibility to injury: almost 3.4% of all operators under 55 suffered an injury while working on the farm in the 12 months before Census Day compared with 3.0% of all operators 55 and over.

Long hours on the farm make injury more likely

But of operators reporting injuries who worked more than 40 hours per week on the farm, the rate rose to 4.5%. Conversely, for those working fewer than 40 hours a week the rates dropped: 2.7% of operators who worked 20 to 40 hours were injured, while only 1.3% of those working fewer than 20 hours per week reported an injury.

It is an inverse relationship when the measure is hours worked at a non-farm job. Those operators working more than 40 hours at a non-farm job (and, therefore, who are more likely to be working fewer hours on the farm) had a rate of only 2.3% compared with 3.7% for those who did no non-farm work at all.

Low receipts = fewer hours = lower injury rate

Operators of the smallest farms, those with receipts less than $25,000, had the lowest rate of injury (2.4%), while the highest incidence of injury — 4.2% — came on medium-size farms where receipts were between $100,000 and $250,000. Operators on the farms in the lowest receipts class work fewer hours on the farm, which accounts for their lower rate of injury. Mid-range operators work longer hours on the farm and those in the highest classes, who work the longest hours on the farm, are more likely to have hired help.

Changes in wording of the question on injuries between the 1996 and 2001 Censuses make comparisons of injuries between the two years unreliable.

Additional profiles on the provinces, women farm operators, and on- and non-farm work are available at Profiles of Canadian farm operators. Tables with more provincial detail about farm operators, including their median age and sex, on- and non-farm work, injuries, and distribution by farm type, gross farm receipts, and farm capital are available at Canadian Statistics.

The complete set of data on farm operators, including distribution by age class, is now available at the county, municipality and regional district levels (or their equivalents) in Farm operator data: initial release (95F0355X1E, free) on Statistics Canada's Web site (www.statcan.ca). From the Our products and services page choose Free publications then Agriculture.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Gaye Ward (613-951-3172), Census of Agriculture, or Media Relations (613-951-4636).

Require assistance or advice on 2001 Census of Agriculture Products and Services? Contact the nearest Statistics Canada Regional Reference Centre.