Work injuries among Finnish farmers: a national register linkage study 1996-1997

BACKGROUND: Farming is one of the most injury-prone occupations in Finland as it is in other countries. Our goals were to describe work injuries of Finnish farmers and to compare occupational injury rates between various subgroups. METHODS: A national cohort of 69,629 full-time farmers and their 11,657 compensated injuries were identified from an insurance company database. Cohort data were merged with a population census and farm register. Relative incidence rates were calculated using Poisson regression. RESULTS: Men had higher injury rates than women, except with regard to injuries caused by animals. Dairy and hog farming were the riskiest activities, and injury rates increased with the number of dairy cows. CONCLUSIONS: One-half of insured farmers in Finland are full-time farmers, which may have lead to underestimation of risk in Finnish injury statistics. Dairy farming is of particular concern because it is both common and has a high injury rate.