Quads, Farmers 50+ Years of Age, and Safety in Australia

Tony Lower,Margaret Rolfe,Noeline Monaghan

doi:10.3390/safety2020012

Tony Lower, Margaret Rolfe + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/safety2020012

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Abstract

Quads are the leading cause of fatal non-intentional injuries on Australian farms. Due to normal age-related physiological and cognitive changes, farmers 50-years of age and above are at increased risk when using quads. This study identifies a non-statistically significant increasing trend for fatal quad incidents involving this cohort in Australia. It is contended that these vehicles are not “fit-for-purpose” for many typical agricultural tasks more broadly and that the ageing process further exacerbates these risks. Encouraging and promoting the use of more “fit-for-purpose” vehicles in the agricultural sector should be the primary focus of intervention approaches. Supplementing this, other approaches that reduce risks, specifically relating to rollovers, crush/asphyxiation and head injuries must be enacted.

Highlights

Agricultural production in Australia is characterized by a progressively ageing cohort of farming men and women. This is exemplified by the demographic profile for agriculture where the average age of farmers is 53 years compared to the all industry mean of 39.5 years
This study reports on quad-related fatal incidents in the Australian agricultural sector between
New cases are initially added to the Register of Quad Deaths by two key methods—(1) alerts via a media monitors program and (2) coded and keyword database searches undertaken periodically by the Centre, and by the National Coroners’ Information System (NCIS) Access Liaison Officer using search terms including but not limited to: “quad bike”, “all-terrain” “ATV” “four wheel & bike” and “4 wheel & bike”

Summary

Introduction

Agricultural production in Australia is characterized by a progressively ageing cohort of farming men and women. This is exemplified by the demographic profile for agriculture where the average age of farmers is 53 years compared to the all industry mean of 39.5 years. This represented a nine-year increase in average age between 1981 and 2011 [1]. This trend has been evolving for many years with almost a quarter (23%) of Australian farmers aged 65 years or over in 2011, compared with just 3% of people in other occupations [2]. In New Zealand, there has been an ongoing increase in the average age of farmers since 1981 (41.9), with the average being

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