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A study was conducted to test a selection of commercially available wearable devices to determine their feasibility for triggering incident detection during a variety of simulated agricultural incidents with high risk of causing injury. The goal was to ultimately increase survivability outcomes for victims by enhancing notification and reducing response time from emergency services. A 50th percentile adult male anthropomorphic test device (ATD). was fitted with a convenient selection of commercially available wearable smart technologies to measure the responsiveness of the technology's incident detection software. Devices used for this testing were: (1) Garmin Vivoactive 4 smartwatch; (2) Apple Watch Series 7 (Bluetooth only and cellular models); and (3) Movesense Active tracking device. A Samsung Galaxy S22 smartphone and an Apple iPhone 12 smartphone were used to connect the wearable devices and measured impact through their internal inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors. Simulated ejections from equipment, vertical falls, and vehicle overturns were performed with the ATD. Side upsets were simulated with the ATD positioned in the operator station of a 52-drawbar horsepower (dbp), two-wheel drive, standard front axle, diesel tractor, weighing 6500 pounds. The tractor was equipped with an approved ROPS. Side upsets were also simulated using a 22-horsepower zero-turn mower, with the ATD positioned in the operator seat. Falls were simulated from heights of up to 4.57 meters. After each simulated incident, devices were examined to determine whether or not incident detection was successfully triggered. Data was then collected from an internal sensor logging application installed on the selected devices. It was found that the incident detection feature on the identified wearable devices only triggered in specific scenarios. Only 2 of the 27 simulated incidents successfully triggered incident detection on one device. Only the Garmin Vivoactive 4 smartwatch triggered incident detection. No device was triggered during the ATD impact in simulated tractor upset testing or in simulated zero-turn mower upset testing. It was concluded that these devices, in their current form, are not reliable for use in detecting serious agricultural-related injuries, especially considering the lack of adequate cell phone coverage in the areas in which these incidents are most likely to occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A total of 29 recent agricultural-related injuries and fatalities throughout the state of Indiana were identified and analyzed for their proximity to cellular towers and emergency medical services (EMS). The objective of this research was to identify relationships between selected agricultural incidents and the ability of the victim to successfully contact emergency services. The geographic information system (GIS) software ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online were utilized for trend identification and analysis. Findings from this analysis showed that only one EMS provider was most likely to be found within five miles of a given incident location. This frequency increased to seven EMS providers when the proximity range was increased to ten miles of a given incident location. The analysis also showed that only one cellular tower was most likely to be within a 10-mile radius of a given incident. There were frequently no accessible towers within five miles of a given incident. In addition, identified incidents were overlaid on a digital elevation map (DEM) of Indiana for analysis on the relationship between elevation and the number of accessible cell towers in the area. Studies have confirmed that victims of serious agricultural-related injuries, especially while working alone, face significant barriers in alerting EMS of their need for assistance. Geospatial analysis techniques performed in this study can be utilized by other states to assess access to EMS and for larger-scale, agricultural incident analysis. These tools have the potential to improve detail in agricultural incident reporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]