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City of Hamilton - Public Health Services
Injury Prevention - Rural & Farm Safety
Farms and rural areas are important part of a community. These areas are unique because they have ponds, streams, animals, machines, equipment and vehicles not found in residential areas.
These conditions increase the risk of preventable deaths and injuries to people who visit, live and work on farms and in rural areas.
Facts:
- In Ontario, from 1990 to 2004, the leading causes of agricultural injuries and hospitalizations were:
- machine entanglements
- animal-related events
- falls from height
- machine runovers and rollovers
- being pinned or struck by a machine
- falls on the same level
- A large number of fatalities and injuries on Ontario farms were in children under the age of 16 years.
- Older adults had a much higher death rate than younger adults aged 15-59; deaths in those over the 80 were the highest.
- Adults aged 65 and over also had the highest rates of injuries requiring a hospital stay. Most (26%) of these injuries were due to falls.
Most of these deaths and injuries were predictable and preventable and were not accidents. | 
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