Each year, about 50 people die from farm-related injuries in Iowa, and another 2,300 become seriously injured.

Most, if not all, of these accidents are preventable.

This week is National Farm Safety and Health Week, sponsored by the National Safety Council. Charles Schwab, extension safety specialist, said the goal this week is awareness.

“We try to alert individuals to refocus during this peak time of work and effort so that they can make wise choices with health and safety,” said Schwab, associate professor of agriculture and biosystems engineering.

September and October are key months for farm awareness due to the fall harvest, said Steve Freeman, Iowa Farm Safety Council vice president. Farmers and those associated with harvest time face getting crops from the ground and the pressures associated with it, he said. The added stress can cause farmers to take certain risks and make unsafe choices, he said.

“Often farmers are preoccupied with the end result, such as getting another load of grain out of the field before it rains,” he said.

“They may not pay as much attention to the specific task at hand and take shortcuts or make hasty decisions that can have devastating consequences.”

National Farm Safety and Health Week is in its 58th year.

“It’s based on the high peak time of year where we have the most injuries in agriculture, both in Iowa and in the nation,” Schwab said.

The theme for the week is “Kids No. 1 in 2001.” Though the theme varies from year to year, the National Safety Council aimed its focus towards kids and youth this year.

According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, children and youth account for at least 20 percent of all farm-related injuries.

Iowa Farm Safety Council President Jim Polish said most of the events in Iowa are taking place in the rural counties because farming is more prominent there.

“Story County has tended to become more metropolitan,” Polish said. “You don’t see as many kids in the schools from farms anymore. The more rural counties, such as Dallas County and Guthrie County, make a very big deal out of this week, because of the amount of farming activity and interest in FFA and 4-H.”

Agriculture ranks second only to mining in industry deaths in the United States with 22 deaths per 100,000.

Schwab said the national average is 3.8 deaths per thousand.

This number is high, but Schwab says it is going down, nationally.

“There has been a decrease, not necessarily specifically in this week,” he said. “But in the last 10 years in Iowa, we have gone from 80 fatalities per year to 40 or 50.”