MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Three Wisconsin children were killed or maimed in farm accidents during the past two months, focusing attention on the dangers of farm work for the young.
The number of children killed on farms has remained steady nationally in recent years, but the number of injuries appears to have increased recently, said Nancy Esser, agriculture safety specialist at the National Farm Medicine Center in Marshfield, Wis.
``We've seen nine or 10 fatalities in Minnesota and surrounding states _ including Wisconsin _ in less than a month,'' said John Shutske, agricultural safety specialist at the University of Minnesota. ``The information we're seeing suggests it's been a particularly bad year for children in these states.''
Farm safety groups estimate more than 100 children are killed and 33,000 are injured each year in farming-related accidents in the United States.
The National Safety Council ranks agriculture as among the most dangerous jobs in the nation. Tens of thousands of children live and work on the nation's 2 million farms.
Children injured or killed during this year's harvest season in Wisconsin include:
- A 9-year-old boy whose arm was severed in a grain elevator while helping a farmer load a corncrib.
- A 10-year-old boy killed when he was pulled into a silage chopper box.
- A 4-year-old girl who lost her arm to a corn chopper when she wandered into the family's fields.
``There is a concern that farm parents are not taking heed to the many messages coming to them to keep these kids away from working conditions unless they are physically and (intellectually) mature enough,'' said Barbara Lee, director of the Marshfield center and its National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety.
Children on family farms are only loosely covered by federal and state labor regulations, and some farmers say efforts to regulate farming for children are impractical.
``These are people's homes. That's their back yard,'' said Mark Purschwitz, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the agricultural safety and health specialist for the extension office there. ``The idea of the government telling you where kids can go on your farm _ that's a sensitive issue.''
Safety advocates instead have pushed voluntary measures and education.
The National Committee for Childhood Agricultural Injury Prevention established guidelines to help adults give children safe and appropriate jobs on the farm.
``A lot of this comes down to common sense,'' said Paul Wolf, who farms 2,800 acres in Washington County, Wis., with his three brothers and their families.
Related
news & reports
