Children and youth are active on many family-operated farms and ranches across the country. Agriculture continues to rank as one of the most dangerous occupations, and children and youth on a farm or ranch are as susceptible to the occupation's dangers as adults. Injuries can occur when children and youth lack supervision, perform dangerous jobs, lack proper training, or do jobs that are not age-appropriate.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) completed the Childhood Agricultural Injury Survey (CAIS) to develop national injury data covering youth under 20 years old who work on farms in the United States. NIOSH provides the data in accessible electronic tables (e-tables) via the Internet. Click here to be directed to the NIOSH website for complete access to this valuable information.
The NIOSH site provides access to e-tables representing CAIS data for the years 2001, 2004, 2006, and 2009, and Minority Farm Operator Childhood Agricultural Injury Survey (M-CAIS) data for the years 2000, 2003, and 2008. Data for additional years will be added when the information becomes available.
Additional information located on NIOSH’s CAIS website includes links to NIOSH publications relating to children and agriculture, reports of investigations of agricultural fatalities involving children, extramural funding and research opportunities, and other resources addressing the prevention of childhood agricultural injury.
