title: Farm Safety Practices and Farm Size in New South Wales.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is some evidence to suggest that safety on small-area farms may not be high priority due to economic constraints and lack of knowledge. This has important ramifications for injury and economic burden. The objective of this research was to conduct a pilot study to investigate whether small- to medium-area farms implement fewer safety practices than large-area farms.
  
  
  METHODS
  Farmers were recruited from farm safety training days, field days, and produce stores in rural New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Small- and medium-area farms less than 500 ha (1235 acres) in size were aggregated for analysis and compared with large-area farms (≥500 ha) for survey items, including safety equipment owned and used, safety practices protecting children, barriers to improving safety, and causes of injury.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, small/medium-area farms were found to own less safety equipment and to employ less safety practices than large-area farms. In particular, fewer tractors were fitted with rollover protection structures, there was less signage, less hearing protection, and fewer machinery guides. Injury rates were slightly less for small/medium-area farms, particularly involving vehicles. Small- and medium-area farmers were more likely to report lack of skills as barriers to making safety improvements.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This pilot study found some evidence that small/medium-area farms implement fewer safety practices than large-area farms. A larger study is warranted to investigate this further, with particular focus on barriers and ways to overcome them. This could have important ramifications for government policies supporting struggling farmers on small/medium-area farms.
authors.affiliation: a Bathurst Rural Clinical School , Western Sydney University , Bathurst , New South Wales , Australia.
authors.forename: Jannine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.affiliation: a Bathurst Rural Clinical School , Western Sydney University , Bathurst , New South Wales , Australia.
authors.forename: Tegan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dutton
authors.affiliation: a Bathurst Rural Clinical School , Western Sydney University , Bathurst , New South Wales , Australia.
authors.forename: Kristy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Payne
authors.affiliation: a Bathurst Rural Clinical School , Western Sydney University , Bathurst , New South Wales , Australia.
authors.forename: Ross
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: a Bathurst Rural Clinical School , Western Sydney University , Bathurst , New South Wales , Australia.|b Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics , Karolinska Institute , Stockholm , Sweden.
authors.forename: Bronwyn K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Brew
mesh_terms: D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000383:Agriculture / Q000295:instrumentation; D004869:Equipment Safety; D000072480:Farms; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009517:New South Wales; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000592:standards*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D000078329:Workforce; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Farm; farm size; safety