URBANA, Ill. — Agriculture is one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States. Each year, vehicles, machinery, environmental hazards, and other incidents cause thousands of injuries and hundreds of fatalities. A thorough understanding of the main risks is key to preventing accidents and promoting agricultural safety.
A research team at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has developed an interactive platform that allows users to obtain customized information about agricultural injuries. The researchers describe their work in a new article.
“The project started as a tool for Extension educators. We wanted to develop something they can use to learn more about the agriculture injuries in their own communities and to compare different regions. Eventually, we decided to also include search options for researchers, who may have different data demands,” said co-author Salah Issa, Illinois Extension specialist and associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE), part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences and The Grainger College of Engineering at the U. of I.
The Agricultural Injury Dashboard covers ag injuries in five Midwestern states. It contains tracks for researchers and educators to customize their queries according to specific purposes. The dashboard allows users to search on a variety of parameters and provides the information as interactive graphs and charts.
“Everything is interactive. If you click on any given year and a certain type of injury, every chart will highlight that specific injury type and provide the age, gender, and fatality distribution. These charts work in tandem, which allows you to hone in on the data according to your needs,” said lead author Sihan Li. She helped develop the dashboard as a doctoral student in ABE and now continues the work as a visiting Extension outreach associate.
Read the full article from the College of ACES.
Photo by College of ACES
University of Illinois Extension develops educational programs, extends knowledge, and builds partnerships to support people, communities, and their environments as part of the state's land-grant institution. Extension serves as the leading public outreach effort for University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences in all 102 Illinois counties through a network of 27 multi-county units and over 500 staff statewide. Extension’s mission is responsive to eight strategic priorities — community, economy, environment, food and agriculture, health, partnerships, technology and discovery, and workforce excellence — that are served through five program areas — 4-H youth development, agriculture and agribusiness, community and economic development, health and community wellness, and natural resources, environment, and energy.