Researchers Develop Tool to Track Ag Injuries, Strengthen Prevention Efforts
By DEBORAH GERTZ HUSAR, Columnist
Farm and Field
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
A research team at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has created an interactive platform offering customized insights into agricultural injuries, one of the most hazardous professions in the United States.
“The project began as a tool for Extension educators. We wanted to create something they could use to learn more about agriculture injuries in their communities and compare different regions. Eventually, we decided to include search options for researchers with diverse data needs,” said co-author Salah Issa, Illinois Extension specialist and associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering.
The Agricultural Injury Dashboard covers ag injuries in five Midwestern states—Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin—from 2016 to 2024. It includes options for both educators and researchers to customize their queries, presenting the data through interactive graphs and charts.
“Everything is interactive. Clicking on any given year and a specific injury type will highlight that type and show age, gender, and fatality distribution,” said lead author Sihan Li.
The dashboard draws data from the AgInjuryNews database, which categorizes agricultural injuries from news reports across the U.S. and Canada. The dataset includes details such as injury cause and type, location, time, and victim demographics.
Future dashboard updates will incorporate data directly from the researchers.
“The University of Illinois database for ag injuries is based on news clippings, and we also ask the Illinois Department of Public Health to review our information, so we can add any missing cases,” Issa noted.
While the dashboard will primarily focus on Illinois data, Issa said users from other states can easily adapt it by adding their own datasets.
“Accidents, especially fatal ones, happen rarely enough that you may not notice a pattern in your community. Therefore, it’s crucial to stay informed about trends across wider regions,” Issa said. “If you identify patterns of incidents across communities, you can launch programs to educate farmers and address these issues before they escalate.”
Grain bin safety
University of Missouri Extension field specialist Todd Lorenz warns that complacency near grain storage can quickly turn fatal.