Safety in Agriculture for Reducing Health Hazards: Analysing Prevalence and Prevention Strategies

Health hazards and injuries are common for farm workers working in agricultural activities and are caused by many factors, such as humans, machines, or environmental factors. Understanding the magnitude of these hazards is essential for effective policymaking, public health interventions, and sustainable agricultural development. Incidents related to agricultural activities that occurred during the one-year period (July 2021–June 2022) were recorded from 20 villages each in three districts of Sangrur, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, and Ferozepur using a bilingual mobile application. Data reliability was ensured through field investigator validation and cross-checking with secondary records. A total of 226 agricultural incidents, including 15 fatalities were reported. Within the category of farm machinery, the reported incidence rates included 38 fatal and 495 non-fatal cases per 100,000 workers, resulting in a total injury rate of 533 per 100,000 workers. Incidents involving hand tools such as spades, sickles, and axes accounted for a total non-fatal incidence rate of 106 per 100,000 workers. Additionally, incidents from other sources, including snake bites and chemical exposures, showed a significantly higher total incidence rate of 772 per 100,000 workers, comprising 51 fatal and 721 non-fatal cases. Human factors were identified as the leading cause of agricultural incidents, accounting for 64.60% of the cases, followed by machine factors (19.03%) and environmental factors (16.37%). To improve agricultural safety and reduce incidents, key interventions must include the mandatory installation of Roll-Over Protective Structures (ROPS) on all tractors, enforcement of seat belt usage, and proper equipping of tractor-trailers with functional brakes, turning indicators, rear lights, and fluorescent Slow-Moving Vehicle (SMV) emblems.