The first summary of farm deaths published by the Purdue University Ag Safety and Health Program looked at 76 farm fatalities in Indiana in one year — 1963. Nearly 60 years later, a similar summary issued for 2021 reported 20 farm fatalities. The trend over time is fewer farm deaths.

Is that “good enough”? No. One farm death is one too many. Ask the spouse of someone killed in a recent farm accident if the big reduction in fatalities is acceptable. If your farm recorded a fatality, the trend toward fewer fatalities holds little solace.

Are zero farm fatalities per year in Indiana realistic? Perhaps not. It’s certainly a tall order. Bill Field, longtime Purdue farm safety specialist, notes that agriculture is still a dangerous occupation. The Indiana Department of Labor classified agriculture as the state’s third most hazardous industry in 2020.

However, that shouldn’t stop you from putting more emphasis on farm safety education among young and old people alike, and among all farm employees. If everyone set “no farm fatalities or serious injuries” as their goal for 2023 on their farm, and achieved it, the number of farm deaths would drop to zero.

Learning from observations

Field and his staff included a detailed breakdown of who died and why in the 2021 final report. Here are key observations:

Tractor accidents still most deadly. Tractor overturns are the single largest cause of farm-related deaths in Indiana over the past 50 years. It’s not debatable, Field says — it’s a fact. That’s true even though rollover protective structures, known as ROPS, have been standard equipment on new tractors since 1985, now approaching four decades. Many older tractors sold without ROPS are still in use. One of the most important preventive steps you can take would be to either retire these tractors from active service or equip them with a ROPS.

Tractor-related deaths No. 1 again in 2021. Grain bin safety gets lots of press, and rightfully so. Yet only two of the 20 deaths in 2021 in Indiana were caused by grain entrapment. Tractors were involved in six fatalities, or 30% of all cases in 2021. Over the past 10 years, Field says tractors were involved in over half of all farm deaths that occurred in Indiana. That’s a staggering statistic!

Age matters. If you are 60 or older, your odds of dying in a farm accident in Indiana are higher than if you’re younger than 60. Based on the 2021 report, just under half of all farm deaths within the past five years, including 2021, happened to someone 60 or older. In 2021, 40% of those who died on Indiana farms was 60 or older.

Spikes happen. Just because farm deaths were down in 2021 from 2020 is no guarantee about what will happen in 2023. Field notes that death numbers spiked above the trend line in three consecutive years recently, from 2016 through 2018. No one can afford to take their eye off the ball, so to speak. Staying safe is a 24/7, 365-days-a-year endeavor.

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