ABSTRACT

Background: Potatoes are a vital part of the Pacific Northwest’s agricultural economy. As in many agricultural industries, workers involved in potato production may be at risk for illness and injuries.

Methods: A Hazard Perception Survey (HPS) was completed by 63 potato growers in Washington (n = 26) and Idaho (n = 37) during the fall and winter of 2017–2018. Participants were asked to indicate their level of concern regarding the frequency and severity of injuries associated with various potato production tasks. Descriptive statistical analyses were used to identify operations and tasks that potato growers perceived to be most hazardous.

Results: The majority of growers (70.9%) indicated that they were very concerned about injuries on their farm. Growers reported that tasks requiring bending, twisting, and lifting resulted in the most common and severe injuries, followed by potato sorting during harvest and falling during planting operations.

Conclusions: Potato growers were concerned with potential hazards related to a variety of potato production tasks. In response to these concerns, we developed educational materials to assist growers in identifying and mitigating safety hazards on their own establishments. Future research is needed to evaluate the utility of these tools on reducing potential hazards and injury rates among workers in the Northwest potato industry.

摘要

背景：马铃薯是太平洋西北部农业经济的重要组成部分。与许多农业产业一样，参与马铃薯生产的工人可能面临生病和受伤的风险。

方法：2017-2018 年秋冬季期间，华盛顿（n = 26）和爱达荷州（n = 37）的 63 名马铃薯种植者完成了一项危害认知调查 (HPS)。参与者被要求表明他们对与各种马铃薯生产任务相关的伤害频率和严重程度的关注程度。描述性统计分析用于确定马铃薯种植者认为最危险的操作和任务。

结果：大多数种植者 (70.9%) 表示他们非常担心农场受伤。种植者报告说，需要弯曲、扭曲和抬起的任务导致最常见和最严重的伤害，其次是收获期间的马铃薯分拣和种植期间的摔倒。

结论：马铃薯种植者担心与各种马铃薯生产任务相关的潜在危害。针对这些担忧，我们开发了教育材料，以帮助种植者识别和减轻他们自己企业的安全隐患。未来的研究需要评估这些工具在减少西北马铃薯产业工人的潜在危害和伤害率方面的效用。