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This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Data All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2005.078923v1 97/2/276    most recent Submit a response Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (3) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Marlenga, B. Articles by Pickett, W. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Marlenga, B. Articles by Pickett, W. Related Collections Adolescent Health Health Policy Injury/Emergency Care/Violence Occupational Health Prevention Rural Health

Barbara Marlenga, PhD, Richard L. Berg, MS, James G. Linneman, BA, Robert J. Brison, MD and William Pickett, PhD

Barbara Marlenga is with the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, and Richard L. Berg and James G. Linneman are with the Department of Biostatistics, Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, Marshfield, Wisconsin. Robert J. Brison and William Pickett are with the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Barbara Marlenga, PhD, National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, 1000 North Oak Ave, Marshfield, WI 54449 (e-mail: marlenga.barbara{at}mcrf.mfldclin.edu).

Objective. The child labor laws are intended to protect young workers from the most dangerous jobs. However, children who work on their parents’ farms are exempt from these laws. We evaluated the potential for preventing the occurrence of farm injuries among children by changing the US Federal Child Labor Laws, Hazardous Occupations Orders for Agriculture.

Methods. A retrospective case series of 1193 farm injuries among children from the United States and Canada was assembled. The Hazardous Occupations Orders were systematically applied to each case. Injury preventability was estimated.

Results. A total of 286 (24%) cases of injury involved immediate family members engaged in farm work. Among these children, 33% of those aged younger than 16 years and 36% of those aged 16 or 17 years were performing work prohibited under the Hazardous Occupations Orders.

Conclusions. Removing the family farm exemption from the Hazardous Occupations Orders and raising the age restriction for performing hazardous agricultural work from 16 to 18 years would be efficacious in preventing the most serious injuries experienced by young family farm workers. Potential reductions in injury would meet Healthy People 2010 goals for reducing traumatic injury in the agricultural sector.

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