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Copyright © 2001 Eastern Ontario Farmers Forum Inc. All Rights Reserved |
Forty-three die yearly in Ontario-Quebec farm accidents
Quebec and Ontario farms continue to be among the most
dangerous places in Canada to work, leaving an appalling aftermath of
carnage and heartbreak. About 43 people, from children to seniors, are
killed annually in tractor roll-overs, caught by the PTO (power take-off),
electrocuted or gored by an animal.
Over a 12-year period from 1989 to 2000, Quebec farms
had 242 fatalities, or an average of just over 20 per year. The appalling death toll on farms historically dwarfs
the SARS epidemic in Canada and makes the West Nile virus a media bubble. Ontario, over a twelve-year period between 1990 and
2001, had more fatalities than Quebec on average – 22.6 per year.
However, its farming population is about 30 per cent larger than Quebec’s. In both provinces, farmers over 60 years of age are
most prone to accidents. While farmers in Quebec over 60 represented only
9.4 per cent of the agricultural population they had 28.5 per cent of the
accidents. Children up to 14-years represented about a quarter of the
population and had 12 per cent of the fatalities. In Ontario, the number of fatalities had been moving
downward through the 90s. But the number has been climbing slowly from 15
in 1997 to 21 in 2001 and 2002. We reported Ontario statistics in April. Following is the Quebec
breakdown. Quebec fatalities Age
0-14 29 12
15-59 144 59.5
60-plus 69 28.5
Total
242 100Source: Quebec Branch, Canadian Agricultural Surveillance Program, 2002