Protecting cattle feedyard workers in the Central States region: Exploring state, regional, and national data on fatal and nonfatal injuries in agriculture and the beef production sector

Abstract

Working in agriculture can be dangerous. Despite ongoing efforts of Extension, animal production worker safety has not been adequately addressed. We present state, regional, and national counts and rates on fatal and nonfatal injuries in agriculture and animal production using publicly available data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. We found that animal production had a high number of fatal injuries and a higher rate of nonfatal injuries than the average within agriculture. More needs to be done to protect livestock workers from injury. Extension professionals can play a key role in increasing safety knowledge and changing behaviors.