Exposure Assessment of Tractor-Related Tasks Presenting Potential Overturn Hazards on Catfish Farms in Mississippi, USA

ABSTRACT

Tractors are used in pond culture of catfish for a variety of mobile tasks, including placing aerators into ponds, mowing, spreading feed into ponds, and transporting equipment (e.g., seining reels), as well as for the stationary task of using the tractor's power-take-offs to operate aerators in the ponds. The mobile tasks place the tractor operator at risk of injury in the event of an overturn, and rollover protective structures (ROPS) are a proven intervention to mitigate injury in a tractor overturn. A 2008 survey was conducted among 96 participants in Mississippi (USA) to determine the hours of tractor use for these tasks. This article reports on exposures to tractor-related tasks conducted on catfish farms as identified in this survey. Annual exposure to potential tractor overturns was calculated based on the hours of mobile operation. The overall annual exposure to potential tractor overturns on the catfish farms participating in the survey was 7322 h per farm and 837 h per tractor on these farms. Findings show a prevalence of 88.2% of ROPS-equipped tractors on farms surveyed and a seasonal variation in exposure to each of the tasks, culminating in an annual estimate of exposure by task.

Key Words:

• aquaculture
• catfish farms
• tractor overturns
• ROPS
• Mississippi farming
• occupational injuries

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) funded the analysis portion of this research through Cooperative Agreement 2 U50 OH007547- 07. The University of Kentucky Office of Research Integrity provided review and approval of the human subjects’ aspects for the authors under IRB protocol number 06-564-P2G. Thomas L. Gregory of the Mississippi Agricultural Statistics Service is acknowledged for providing survey data without personal identifiers for this analysis. The editorial assistance of Teresa Donovan of the University of Kentucky College of Public Health is appreciated.