FATAL FARM INJURIES - A 5-YEAR STUDY UTILIZING A UNIQUE SURVEILLANCE APPROACH TO INVESTIGATE THE CONCORDANCE OF REPORTING BETWEEN 2 DATA SOURCES

The agricultural industry has been ranked among the most hazardous. Ye t, it has been alleged that occupational injuries and fatalities are s eriously underreported. Access to quality agricultural injury data pos es a special problem. The purpose of this study was to investigate the concordance of reporting of fatal agricultural injuries between death certificate data and the Newspaper Clipping Service data in the state of Minnesota utilizing a surveillance system developed by the Univers ity of Minnesota. Between September 1, 1981, and August 31, 1986, a to tal of 350 agricultural fatalities were identified in Minnesota; 82% w ere identified through death certificate data and 67% through the News paper Clipping Service. Differences in reporting between the two data- sources were noted for gender, age, injury type, anatomical site, sour ce, mechanism of injury, and multiple versus single injury. If only de ath; certificates had been utilized, 18% of the fatalities would have been missed. Although it is apparent that death certificate data have an advantage over the Newspaper Clipping Service data for fatality rep orting of specific variables, this study revealed that death certifica te surveillance alone will miss mortality data and detection of certai n potential risk factors. Suggestions for improving surveillance of ag ricultural fatalities are identified. However, until relevant changes are made, it will be essential to use a combination of data sources th at include the Newspaper Clipping Service to identify agricultural inj ury fatalities accurately.