South Dakota\u27s Farm Accident Toll

Facts regarding farm accidents are scarce. A suggestion was made by the state safety director, Carroll Stinson, to the agricultural engineering department that a newspaper clipping survey be made to determine in what areas an educational program might best be developed to cut down on the occupational hazards of modern agriculture. One hundred fourteen of the 185 weekly and eight of the 12 daily papers cooperated in making this survey. Agricultural engineering students clipped out accident reports each week from these papers from November 1, 1952 through October 31, 1953. This survey was restricted to on-the-farm accidents except those accidents involving livestock or farm machinery on the road. Only fatal, permanent or serious* injuries were recorded. By no means are all of the accidents falling in these classifications recorded in this report because not all of these accidents are reported in the newspapers; not all of the newspapers in the state are represented; and doubtless some accidents may have been overlooked by the surveying committee. However, we believe that the coverage of these very serious accidents is representative for South Dakota. Supplemented with and compared to national statistics, this information can be used in safety promotion