Farming dangerous, study shows

Farming deaths accounted for approximately one-third of work-related deaths in the year 2007, according to one program's evaluation.

The Iowa Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation program is a federally funded state program that totals work-related deaths in hopes of preventing future accidents.

"The ultimate goal is prevention," said Murray Madsen, the chief investigator for the program.

Data from the evaluation also show officials where occupational fatalities occur most frequently.

Madsen said the number of farm deaths per year was consistent with 2006 statistics, which is 25 percent below the 10-year average.

Many of the deaths could be attributed to farmers not having the adequate rollover protection, getting run over by a farming vehicle, or having a traffic accident when transporting equipment, he said.

Iowa's division of the program specifically focuses on agricultural traumatic deaths and works for outreach and prevention of accidents that occur under those circumstances.

Of the 79 worker fatalities in Iowa in 2007, 22 were farmers, 23 occurred in trucking incidents, and more than a dozen were at commercial or industrial workplaces.

The fatality-assessment program's website details the work-related deaths from 1994 to 2006, but the 2007 incident descriptions will not appear until this time next year.

The reason behind the delay is to prevent people from identifying the victims, Madsen said.