Saabunud / Received 26.10.2019 ; Aktsepteeritud / Accepted 15.11.2019 ; Avaldatud veebis / Published online 29.11.2019 ; Vastutav autor / Corresponding author: Anni Eda e-mail: [email protected] accidents in agriculture are a problem all over
the world. The costs of accidents are high to the employer and to the
national economy as a whole. Work-related ill-health and injury is costing
the European Union 3.3% of its GDP. In Estonia, the estimates of the costs
of work accidents (WA) in 2012 showed €2.4 billion per year and due to
permanent lost workability €25 billion costs in total for society. Even if
the most sectors become more automated, there are also self-employed
farmers, who cannot always use the newest technologies. At the same
time, family members and farm workers are facing risks higher than in
most other occupations. Many accidents involve the handling of
machinery or animals. The objective of the study was to analyse fatal and
non-fatal work accidents by demographic parameters, severity, type,
causes and body location of injuries in Estonian agriculture in 2008–2017.
Method. The database of accidents in agriculture was obtained from the
Estonian Labour Inspectorate and the data by absolute numbers,
percentages and incident rates have described. Results. The total number
of accidents at work in agriculture was 1696, which formed 4% from the
total economic sector. The average incident rate in the past decade was
678 accidents per 100 000 workers. Predominantly minor accidents and
usually among male workers have taken place. There are mainly 3 types
of injuries – wounds and superficial injuries (40.4% of the total), bone
fractures (25.6%) and concussion and internal injuries (16.2%). The most
common causes of work accidents are lack of internal control (20.3%),
poor instruction (18.5%) and other factors (18.1%). The most often
locations of the injuries throughout the years were upper or lower limbs
(35.7% and 33.0% respectively). The biggest number of accidents was
taken place at Järva county
