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Prior studies at Purdue University have shown that PTO entanglements occur most frequently on portable grain augers. A research project was conducted to measure operator exposure to PTO components and document work patterns during the use of grain augers. Information on the methodologies used to measure operator exposure is presented along with data on exposure to conventional grain augers while unloading from trucks and wagons, extended dump hopper augers, and swing-away hopper augers. It was found that operators had a higher exposure time to operating PTO components when the driveline was located on the right side of the grain auger, as one stands facing the hopper end of the auger, than on the left side of the grain auger when using conventional grain augers and grain trucks. It was determined that this added exposure was due to the position of the driver's door of the truck, the natural path of the driver from the operator's seat to the rear of the truck, and the movement of the truck body into the workspace when tilted. Of all scenarios examined, operators had the highest exposure time when using conventional grain augers and gravity-flow grain wagons. Operators had no recorded exposure time when operating swing-away hopper augers. Recommendations were made based on the observations of this study for reducing operator exposure through increased awareness of hazards and reconfiguration of the way augers are incorporated into grain handling operations.

Objective: The authors sought to improve the agriculture safety prevention efforts of county health departments in Wisconsin by examining current programs, staffs' perceptions of the farm safety problem, and the need for new resources., Methods: A survey instrument was completed by a professional staff member of the local health department in each of Wisconsin's 69 counties., Results: Usable responses were obtained from 84% of the counties. Forty-five percent of the responding staff members conducted some agricultural safety and health programs, most often health screenings or group meetings conducted collaboratively with county agricultural Extension agents. There were no major differences in county demographics or other service provision variables between staff members who conducted programs and those who did not. Staff members perceived the largest barriers to better safety as lack of staff time and difficulty getting farmers to attend safety programs. Most failed to place more emphasis on training agricultural workers to permanently correct hazards than on training them to work safely around hazards. However, the staff members ranked safety inspection checklists as the most needed new material and ranked Extension agents and farmers as the most appropriate people to conduct inspections using such checklists., Conclusion: County public health professionals want more staff time and new materials to increase the effectiveness of their agricultural safety efforts. Encouraging agricultural workers and family members to identify and correct hazards would be a more effective use of staff time than training people to work safely around hazards.

Objective: To assess current prevention efforts, we examined agricultural work-related safety and health activities by school-based agricultural education instructors in Wisconsin., Methods: Questionnaires were administered to 284 high school agricultural education instructors., Results: Instructors taught agricultural safety and health to 61.5 students during 20.4 hours during the previous year. Extension agents were used most often as resources during preparation and presentation of coursework. Only a minority of instructors (13.6%) agreed that modifying the work to eliminate hazards should be emphasized over training people to work safely around hazards. After issues of time pressures and lack of student interest, the most important problems the instructors felt they faced were the needs for materials and other resources., Conclusion: Safety education alone is unlikely to reduce injuries unless unsafe conditions are modified. Instructors need to emphasize teaching of skills in hazard recognition, identification, and control. Instructors felt they could be more effective with better materials and more time for injury and disease prevention.

This study investigated the agricultural work-related safety and health programming of county-level cooperative extension agents who work through land grant universities to provide a range of educational programs to agricultural producers. A questionnaire was designed and administered to all 89 Wisconsin agriculture and agribusiness extension county faculty. The questionnaire obtained valid responses from 98.9 percent of the agents. Ninety percent of all agents conducted some occupational safety and health promotion programming in the last year. These activities occupied an average of 4.8 days per agent per year. Most of the reported activities were group programs for the agricultural labor force that involved other extension agents and included the use of videotapes. The greatest barrier to more programming was lack of time on the part of both the agricultural work force and the agents. Most extension agents placed greater emphasis on training in how to work safely around hazards than on how to recognize and permanently correct hazards. For future programs agents requested more short format materials to use in programming, such as fact sheets, videotapes, and farm hazard inspection checklists. Agents are important training delivery resources for controlling farm-related injury and disease. Agents could be more effective with more time, better materials, and with more emphasis on hazard correction in workplace safety programs.