2006 Farm and Ranch Safety Survey

Washington, D.C.

2006 Farm and
Ranch
Safety Survey

Released January 17, 2008, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board,
U.S. Department of Agriculture. For information on "2006 Farm and Ranch Safety Survey" call Mark Miller at
202-720-6146, office hours 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET.

There were an estimated 2.5 million tractors
in use on farms in the United States (U.S.)
that were equipped with Roll-Over Protective
(ROPS) in 2006. This represented 59 percent
of the tractors used on U.S. farms. This
finding was based on a random telephone
survey of 25,000 farm operations conducted
by the National Agricultural Statistics Service
(NASS) for the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), an
agency of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Farm operators were asked
questions about farm tractors and other safety
and health issues associated with their farm
in 2006. These issues ranged from questions
about tractors and other machinery used on
their operations in 2006 to the use of hearing
protection and other protective equipment
used by farm operators while working on
their farms.

based on this study. The majority of these
overturn events (4,200) involved tractors with
no ROPS.

Farms or ranches located in the South region
(see table 1) of the U.S. reported the highest
percentage of tractors with ROPS protection
(65 percent), followed by the West, which
reported 60 percent of their tractors being
protected by a ROPS, and the Midwest with
56 percent of tractors having a ROPS. The
lowest use of ROPS was found in the
Northeast at 51 percent. ROPS represent the
best available protection to tractor operators
from serious or fatal injuries in the event of a
tractor overturn. There were an estimated
6,700 tractor rollovers in the U.S. between
September of 2005 and September of 2006

Only 40,000 operators were estimated to have
manure pits on their operation in 2006,
accounting for 57,000 manure pits in total.
Of the farm operators with manure pits,
63 percent reported never entering the pits
during the 12-month period prior to this
study, while 19 percent reported entering the
pit 1-5 times, with 19 percent stating they
entered their pit 6 or more times in the
previous 12 months. About 60 percent of the
manure pit openings were covered with
grates, concrete lids, or some other type of
guarding. Only 35 percent of the manure pits
were reported to be equipped with powered
ventilation systems.

Sp Cr 3-1 (1-08)

About 900,000 operators had all-terrain
vehicles (ATVs) on their operations, for a
total of 1.2 million ATVs, with the majority
of the ATVs (1.1 million) being used for farm
work tasks at least some of the time by the
farm operator. For other farm machinery, the
study asked farm operators about the presence
of guards and shields on the implements. For
power take-off driveline shields, farm
operators reported that 93 percent of hay
balers on their farming operations in 2006 had
the shield in place. For brush-cutting
mowers, 86 percent were reported to have the
PTO driveline shield in place, while
84 percent of sickle bar-type mowers were
reported to have these shields.

Operators on 270,000 farms reported having
420,000 portable PTO-driven grain augers.
The average auger height when fully
extended was 41 feet, with the highest auger
height reported of 120 feet. About 40 percent
of all augers were 20-39 feet; 26 percent
between 40-59 feet; 24 percent 60 feet or
higher; and 10 percent less than 20 feet in
height. Farm operators reported that
92 percent of the augers had the intake chute
guard and 92 percent had the PTO shaft
driveline guard.

For farm structures, the survey estimated
430,000 operators used tower silos on their
farms. These farms accounted for 1.5 million
silos, for an average of 3.4 silos per operation.
About 90,000 of these tower silos were the
oxygen-limiting type. Nearly 1.1 million
(75 percent) of the silos had permanent
external ladders attached to them; however,
only 360,000 (33 percent) had restricted
access (padlock on the ladder entry or pull
down ladder system to enter the ladder cage)
to these attached ladders. Enclosed cage
system ladders comprised 22 percent
(250,000) of the total attached ladders.

On questions related to personal protective
equipment use, only 37 percent (780,000) of
the operators reported using a respirator or
dust mask on their operations during the 12month period prior to this study. The most
common reason given for using a respirator or
dust mask was for working in dusty
environments (550,000 positive responses).
With regards to noise exposure, 1.3 million
(64 percent) farm operators reported working
around loud noise on their operation at some
point during the 12 months prior to the study.
Of these operators self-reporting exposure to
loud noise, 880,000 (66 percent) responded
that they wore ear plugs or ear muffs at least
some of the time while working in these noisy
environments.

Nearly 980,000 farming operations had
underground power lines. Of these
operations, about one-third (320,000)
reported all of their power lines were
underground. An additional 30 percent
(290,000) reported that around half of their
power lines were underground, with the
remaining farms (37 percent) reporting less
than half of their power lines being
underground.
Portable PTO-driven grain augers have been
identified as serious hazards due
to both contact with overhead power lines and
for PTO and chute guarding issues.

2006 Farm and Ranch Safety Survey
January 2008

2

Agricultural Statistics Board
NASS, USDA

Table 1 - 2006 Farm and Ranch Safety Survey
Tractors
2

Total
302,000
1,432,000
1,970,000
532,000

ROPS
155,000
932,000
1,099,000
319,000

% ROPS
51
65
56
60

U.S.

4,236,000

2,505,000

59

Region
Northeast
South
Midwest
West

1

Estimates do not add to total due to rounding.

2

Northeast
South
Midwest
West

ATVs
57,000
478,000
480,000
220,000
1,236,000

1

Underground

Manure Pits
6,000
8,000
38,000
6,000
57,000

1

Tower Silos
54,000
198,000
1,067,000
142,000
1,463,000

1

Power Lines
47,000
327,000
456,000
151,000
980,000

CT, ME, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, and VT.
AL, AR, DE, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN,
TX, VA, and WV.
IL, IN, IA, KS, MI, MN, MO, NE, ND, OH, SD, and WI.
AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT,
WA and WY.

NIOSH sponsored this survey to better understand the magnitude and scope of adult agricultural
injuries. The survey was conducted as part of the NIOSH Agricultural Injury and Health Initiative
and the NIOSH Childhood Agricultural Injury Prevention Initiative. For further information,
contact John Myers, NIOSH, at (304) 285-6005 or Mark R. Miller, NASS, at (202) 720-0684.

2006 Farm and Ranch Safety Survey
January 2008

Agricultural Statistics Board
3

NASS, USDA

1

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