Occupational Injury and Working Days Lost in Northern Ireland’s Farming Sector

Abstract

Agriculture is one of the most hazardous sectors in terms of occupational injuries resulting in 29 more working days being lost. This paper employs a dataset of 7,500 Northern Irish farms 30 over the period 2015-2019 to investigate what factors affect the number of working days lost 31 in agriculture. Results indicate that public policies aimed to improve farm safety should focus 32 on dairy farms, young workers, family members different from the main farmer, and 33 dangerous working practices related to machineries and vehicles. Besides, results indicate 34 that more than 18,000 workdays are lost every year in Northern Irish farms.