Citation

Marlenga BL, Pahwa P, Hagel LM, Dosman J, Pickett W. J. Rural Health 2010; 26(4): 366-372.

Affiliation

National Children's Center for Agricultural Health and Safety, Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, Marshfield, Wisconsin Canadian Centre for Health and Safety in Agriculture, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Department of Community Health and Epidemiology and Department of Emergency Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada The Saskatchewan Farm Injury Cohort Study Team consists of William Pickett, PhD (Principal Investigator); Robert J. Brison, MD, MPH (Queen's University at Kingston Ontario, Canada); Trever Crowe, PhD; James Dosman, MD (Co-Principal Investigator); Louise Hagel, MSc; Niels Koehncke, MD, MSc, FRCPC; Punam Pahwa, PhD; Phyllis Snodgrass, BScN (University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada); Lesley Day, PhD (Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia); Barbara Marlenga, PhD (National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, Marshfield, Wisconsin, USA); and Donald Voaklander, PhD (University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada).

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, National Rural Health Association, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1748-0361.2010.00304.x

PMID

21029172

Abstract

Objectives: To characterize working hours of adult farm owner-operators and their spouses by season, and to examine associations between working hours and farm safety practices affecting children. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of cross-sectional survey data collected as part of an existing study of injury and its determinants. Results: Owner-operators reported a median of 60 to 70 hours of farm work per week during warm weather months, with declines in hours over the winter. Spouses reported similar seasonal patterns, although their median reported hours were much lower. Longer farm working hours by owner-operators were marginally associated with increased exposure of teenagers to farm work hazards. Exposures of young children to worksite hazards rose in association with longer farm working hours by spouses. Conclusion: Exposures of children to farm worksite hazards and demands may be consequences of adult long working hours.

Language: en