05/13/2008

Associated Press

The number of fatal farm accidents in Indiana tripled last year following six years of decline, according to a new report.

Farm-related accidents killed 24 people in 2007, while eight such deaths happened in 2006. It was the deadliest year on Indiana farms since 2000, when 27 people died in farming accidents, said the report from Purdue University's agricultural safety and health program, which has been tracking farm fatalities across the state since 1970.

"We celebrated last year when the 2006 numbers came in, because it was the lowest number we ever recorded," said Lisa Chaudion, executive director of the Indiana Young Farmers Association. "But obviously there are some safety issues out there that people weren't paying attention to."

One of those killed last year was 64-year-old John F. Miller, who was crushed to death beneath his combine when he tried to get it unstuck from a ditch in northeastern Indiana's DeKalb County.

Others included an 80-year-old Johnson County man buried under tons of grain in a silo; a 24-year-old pilot killed in a crop-duster airplane crash in St. Joseph County and a 75-year-old man in Perry County who died when an all-terrain vehicle overturned while he was checking fences.

The most frequent causes of death were crushing and pinning by machinery and tractor accidents — including tractors turning over or running over farmers and road collisions. Each of those accounted for three deaths.

Farmers are exposed to hazards nearly every day, from getting trampled by livestock to becoming overcome by manure pit fumes. A report from the Indiana Department of Labor said farming was the most dangerous job in the state.

"Danger comes with the job," said William E. Field, a professor of biological engineering at Purdue who compiles the university's annual reports. "It's been that way forever."

Many of the accidents occurred on family farms, which are not normally inspected by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration or the state Department of Labor.

The Purdue report said the spike in dangerous accidents followed three years of cuts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in farm-safety funds for the states. Reduced travel budgets and increased fuel costs for county extension agents have made it more difficult to put on safety programs and educational material has become more expensive.

"Most commercially available farm safety videos and DVDs have become so expensive that they are now out of reach to most public schools and groups such as 4-H and FFA," the report said.

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Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com