Youth Safe Farm USDA Youth Safety Grant 1 West Virginia University Extension Service, Safety and Health Extension 2 West Virginia University Extension Service, Agriculture and Natural Resources Background It is estimated that 237 farm youth are injured each year in West Virginia farms and more than one young person each year dies as a result of these injuries. WV farms are underserved and present particular problems for control of hazards due to terrain, part time nature of farming, economic stress on farms, lack of close-by medical facilities and lack of access to education and information. Previous injury reports list machinery, drowning and firearms as the leading causes of farm fatalities in the state of West Virginia. Those areas, along with an emphasis on all-terrain vehicle safety are covered during the YSF programming. Approximately 24% of all ATV fatalities in West Virginia are among youth 17 years of age and younger. (Helmkamp, 2008) Long Term Goal This project seeks to reduce injuries to underserved Appalachian farm youth through an innovative research driven program of community and family based health promotion. Methods Implement a participatory research evaluation that involves farm families in evaluating the project Market YSF program in WV counties Reward successful participants with a West Virginia University Farm Safe Youth designation Revise safety and health curriculum to be age appropriate for young audiences Conduct educational dinner meetings in the counties to encourage information exchange and accountability Families inspected their farms, took photos of hazards, created risk priorities lists, and final self audit forms Obtained and distributed mini-grants with funds supplied by Farm Credit Report on changes made related to age appropriateness for childrens activities, work practices, use of personal protective equipment, and engineering controls Figure 1: Hazards (left to right) ROPS, Tool and Equipment Guarding Hazards, Fire Arms Safety, Property Hazards including drowning Discussion “The Youth Safe Farm program makes families accountable for their farms’ safety,” Becker said. “By giving families planning tools and advice in a community forum, they can adjust their farm practices with careful eyes toward specific risks.” Farmers who attend at least seven meetings, complete risk identification and correct hazards during the two-year period were designated “WVU Youth Safe Farms.” Each designated farm will receive a plaque. Future plans are to continue the program throughout WV on a more limited scale by providing a Train-the-trainer program to all counties that want to participate. The county will then manage the program with the safety and health specialist offering assistance as needed. Further dissemination of the data to include hazard alerts and recommended fixes to the most common hazards identified through the project. Acknowledgements: USDA, CSREES Award No: Contributions of WVU Extension Faculty; Paul Becker (in Memoriam), Wayne Lundstrom, Dan Whiteman, Bob Moore, Meg Baughman, Debbie Friend, Mike Shamblin, Stacey Hamric, Patty Morrison, H.R. Scott, Allison Nichols Results Program generated changes in family behavior resulting in changes of ages at which youth were allowed to do tasks, use of personal protective equipment, and correction of hazardous conditions on farms (Table 2). Evaluation: Number of inspections conducted (Table 1) Number of hazards identified (Table 1) Number of hazards corrected (Table 1) Number of dollars spent (Table 1) Number of hours spent for correction (Table 1) Hazard corrections were categorized by the families into one of four categories. (Engineering Control, Personal Protective Equipment, Work Practice Change, or a NAGCAT Correction). The majority of hazards were corrected with an engineering control. This is the preferred correction method to abate hazards based (Table 2) *Average correction cost in round 2 was $2, compared to $451 in round 1. Table 1: Hazard Correction Summary Graph 1: Hazard Correction Types Figure 2 : Youth Safe Farms Hazard Training and Youth Safe Farm Designation