Evaluation of the Farm and Agricultural Injury Classification Code and follow-up questionnaire

Abstract

The Farm and Agricultural Injury Classification (FAIC) code was developed specifically to identify and classify all agricultural injuries of interest to agricultural safety and health professionals. The FAIC code overcomes fundamental problems of classifying agricultural-related injuries by grouping incidents into categories describing actual exposures encountered on farms and in agricultural work. The successful application of the FAIC code depends largely on a researcher's ability to obtain appropriate information to correctly use the code. The purpose of this research project was to: (1) compare data obtained through a newly developed FAIC follow-up questionnaire (FQ) with data from the Penn State Agricultural Injury Database (AID); and (2) test FAIC Code utility, reliability, and construct validity with agricultural safety and health professionals. The FQ improved classification of 57% of cases in the Penn State AID. A majority of agricultural health and safety professionals understood and used the FAIC coding system, without training, to code an average of 75% of the test cases the same as the researcher. A large majority of the professionals that participated in this study judged the FAIC code and the accompanying materials to be very useful.