2010 Census Data Shows 19 Deaths in Kansas Related to Farming and Ranching
By Jean-Paul McDonald,Farms.com
The most recent release of census information for Fatal Occupational Injuries, issued by the Kansas Department of Labor shows that farming and ranching in the state accounts for the most job related deaths. In 2010, the Kansas Department of Labor reported that 19 farmers and ranchers were killed on the job, representing around one fifth of the total of on-the-job-fatalities – a decline from 23 farm and ranch related deaths in 2009.
The Department of Labor census data shows that there were 85 job-related fatalities in the state in 2010, with farming and ranching taking the top spots for most deaths, followed by salesmen and truck drivers at 12 deaths and managers and supervisors of salesmen at 5 deaths. Almost half of all on-the-job fatalities in Kansas in 2010 involved vehicles and deaths occurred on the road or on farms.
It’s long been known that farming and ranching jobs can be extremely dangerous, even for the most seasoned veterans of the fields. Farm and ranch deaths are often the result of machinery and heavy equipment accidents, suffocation in silos and manure pits and occasionally the deaths are related to encounters with unruly animals.