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. 2024 Feb 9;62(1):56-61.
doi: 10.2486/indhealth.2023-0060. Epub 2023 Jul 3.

Farm operations and slips, trips, and falls among corn farm workers in Thailand

Chayaphorn Vudhironarit  1 , Sara Arphorn  1   2 , Chatchai Thanachoksawang  1   2 , Chalermsiri Theppitak  3 , Kanpitcha Kiatkitroj  4 , Teepapipat Lertvarayut  5 , Jiraporn Phuaram  6 , Kunio Hara  7 , Tomohiro Ishimaru  8
Affiliations

Farm operations and slips, trips, and falls among corn farm workers in Thailand

Chayaphorn Vudhironarit et al. Ind Health. .

Abstract

Slips, trips, and falls (STFs) represent a main source of injury among farm workers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between farm operations and STFs among corn farm workers. We conducted a cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire among corn farm workers in Nan and Saraburi provinces, Thailand from July 5 to 23, 2022. Poisson regression analysis was used. Among 338 participants, 122 (36.1%) had experienced an STF in the previous 6 months. Conducting very frequent, frequent, or occasional pest management was associated with a higher incidence rate ratio (IRR) of STFs than never or rarely pest management (adjusted IRR 1.93, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.23 to 3.04, p=0.004). People with marginal or unsatisfactory work break lengths had a higher incidence rate of STFs than those with satisfactory work breaks (adjusted IRR 1.40, 95% CI=1.03 to 1.89, p=0.030). We found that corn farm workers in our study often experienced STFs, which was associated with a high frequency of pest management practices and inadequate work breaks. Reducing the physical burden of pest management may be effective as an STF prevention strategy.

Keywords: Agriculture; Fall; Farm worker; Occupational injury; Occupational safety.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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