| OSHA ranks agriculture as the highest industry in per capita injury and deaths, and has so for many years (OSHA 2013). Agricultural production presents many hazards which may or may not be unique to this industry. Workers can face long hours, exposure to extreme heat and cold, aggressive animals, exposure to chemicals, and hazards regarding heavy equipment. University farms face many of the same problems as private production agriculture, with the added pressure of often being diverse operations with the constant presence of student workers, which have highly variable levels of experience. Based on the amount of hazards present, one would expect to see a high injury rate among university farm workers, but information surrounding injury rates as well as safety information at university farms appear to be absent from the record. The objective of this exploratory study is to build the knowledge base surrounding non-land grant university farms. |
