The features of non-fatal fall-related injuries not due to agricultural machines among elderly farmers in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan

To ensure the safe work of elderly farmers, we focused on the features of non-fatal, fall-related injuries not due to agricultural machines. Farmers' compensation injury claims were utilized to characterize the fall-related injuries at work in Fukuoka prefecture between 2008 and 2009. A total of 1,040 (630 men) farmers' compensation injury claims were analyzed. The age group with the highest percentage of fall accidents was 75 to 79 years for men, and 70 to 74 years for women. For the female group (>=65 years of age) compared with the reference group (<=64 years of age), the percentage of hip/back injuries by falls/slipping was higher (19.2% vs. 10.7% ; p<0.05), but the percentage of hand/wrist injuries were lower (6.7% vs. 25.0% ; p<0.05). The ladder/step ladder was the most frequent source of injury, causing falls/loss of balance in the female group, but the percentage was lower than that in the reference group (32.3% vs. 50.0% ; p<0.05). Inclines were another source of injury due to falls/loss of balance in the female group with a percentage higher than that in the reference group (14.7% vs. 11.5% ; p<0.05), but the tree/tree branch were sources of injury with a lower percentage (7.4% vs. 15.4% ; p<0.05). Vegetable field/tea field were places of injury due to falls/tripping with a higher percentage in the female group vs the reference group (31.0% vs. 15.0% ; p<0.01), but the barn/warehouse were places of injury with a lower percentage in the female group (8.5% vs. 30.0% ; p<0.01). Fracture was the leading form of injury in all three types of fall accidents with a higher percentage among female farmers compared with male farmers (falls/slipping : 62.5% vs. 35.5%, p<0.01 ; falls/loss of balance : 61.8% vs. 45.9%, p<0.01 ; falls/tripping : 49.3% vs. 34.4%, p<0.05). Our data suggest useful information that should be considered in ensuring the safe work of elderly farmers.