Ag Workplace Deaths Top List
Ag Workplace Deaths Top List. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.
Every year people working in the ag community have accidents and unfortunately some die from those accidents. Workplace deaths in Washington state climbed in 2010, with 86 men and women killed due to job-related trauma, according to a report on work-related fatalities from the Department of Labor & Industries. According to Hector Castro with LNI, the ag industry was at the top of the list.
CASTRO: This report is compiled every year by our research division and what we found were 86 deaths. That’s more than we had in 2009 but sadly that actually brings us to what is typical for Washington State. In 2010 one of the things we saw were that a number of the deaths were in the agriculture industry.
Castro says that the average death totals are usually in the 80 to 90 range and in the ag industry last year there were a number of tractor accidents.
CASTRO: There were seven in 2010. Five of those were specifically due to tractor rollovers. One of the things we did when we saw that even as we saw the year ending was LNI issued an industry-wide hazard alert to the agriculture industry to remind them of what the requirements are regarding tractor safety, rollover protective systems, the training that’s required, seat belt use, things like that.
LNI will present their 7th annual Agriculture Safety Day next Wednesday, March 2nd at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick.
That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.
