At a recent advisory board meeting of the National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, director Barbara Lee told attendees that progress is being made in reducing injuries to youth on farms. For instance, one major accomplishment is in the area of surveillance. When the Center was opened in 1996, there was no system of reporting and tracking injuries to farm youth. Now, the Center does have a program in place for recording injuries and fatalities.

Some of the highlights that can be gleaned from that surveillance include:

• An average of 100 people under the age of 20 die every year in farm-related incidents.
  
• ATV injuries to youth have increased since 1996, and continue to increase.
  
• Injuries to female youth working with horses has increased.
  
• Since 1996, injuries to children has dropped from 1.7 per 100 farms, to 1.4 per 100 farms now.
  
• 8% of the injuries to youth are to hired youth working on non-family farms.
  
• Half of the children injured on farms are injured in non-working situations; they are playing, visiting, or involved in some other non-working activity.