Engaging Agribusinesses: Feasibility and Cost of an ATV Safety Poster Project

ABSTRACT

Objectives: All-terrain vehicle (ATV)-related deaths and injuries continue to be a significant problem. Influential change agents such as agribusinesses could be important partners for improving safety behaviors among rural ATV users. Our objective was to determine how effectively an injury prevention project could engage agribusinesses through the postal service and to assess their willingness to display a safety poster. Methods: One thousand two hundred forty-four agribusinesses received an ATV safety poster and a postcard survey by mail. A randomized sampling of these businesses was surveyed by telephone 4–7 weeks later. Telephone survey questions included whether they recalled receiving the poster, and if so, whether, where and how long the poster was displayed. Results: One hundred six postcards were returned. Of the 192 eligible business persons contacted by telephone, 89% agreed to participate. Approximately one-third of telephone survey participants recalled receiving the poster. Among these, 81% with walk-in customers posted it, and 74% still had it displayed 1 month later. Of participants who did not recall receiving the poster, 83% stated they would have displayed the poster. The cost of displaying each poster in a business was 16.6 cents/day during the first month. Final costs/day would be much less because of continued display. Conclusion: A high percentage of agribusinesses displayed or would have displayed an ATV safety poster, and most displayed it beyond 1 month. Unfortunately, participant recruitment via postal delivery alone was challenging. Nevertheless, mass mailing of injury prevention materials to be displayed in the retail setting may be a low cost method for raising safety awareness.

KEYWORDS:

• Agribusiness
• all-terrain vehicle
• farm
• injury prevention
• rural

Acknowledgments

The lead organization involved with this project was Safe Kids Johnson County and the project was performed by the Iowa ATV Injury Prevention Task Force which is a coalition of dedicated individuals from the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, Safe Kids Johnson County, the Iowa Emergency Services for Children, the University of Iowa Departments of Emergency Medicine and Trauma Services, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and the US Army Corps of Engineers. Other partners are Safe Kids Iowa, the Iowa Department of Public Health, the University of Iowa Injury Prevention Research Center, the Iowa Rural Health & Safety Clinic, and the Brain Injury Alliance of Iowa. The authors would like to especially acknowledge several task force members including Michele Lilienthal, Jeffrey Peck, Erika Billerbeck, and Evelyn ‘Lou’ Wolfe for their help with this project.

Funding

This project was funded by the Iowa Department of Health through a Love Our Kids Injury Prevention Grant.

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded by the Iowa Department of Health through a Love Our Kids Injury Prevention Grant.