FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 13, 2024
CONTACT:
Scott Heiberger
Heiberger.Scott@marshfieldresearch.org
715-389-7541
Melissa Ploeckelman
Ploeckelman.melissa@marshfieldresearch.org
715-240-0900
Agricultural injury stories reveal themes for safety
‘Tell a story, save a life’ during National Farm Safety and Health Week, Sept. 15-21
When a farm injury or fatality occurs, sharing stories of those incidents can help others avoid similar hazards.
An analysis of stories told by injury survivors on the Telling the Story Project website, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Agromedicine, identified themes that can be used to shape more effective injury-prevention messages, according to the authors.
“We think this paper can be a road map for safety professionals and organizations who want to use the power of storytelling,” said lead author Melissa Ploeckelman, outreach specialist with the National Farm Medicine Center and National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, Marshfield, Wis.
“Tell a story, save a life,” is the project’s motto, and National Farm Safety and Health Week, Sept. 15-21, is the perfect time to share these cautionary tales.
Telling the Story Project embeds injury prevention messages into first-person accounts. The project debuted online in 2017 and uses videotaped interviews and written narratives to share stories from farmers, farm workers and ranchers who have been directly involved in an agriculture incident.
“The goal of this project is for the audience to connect on a cultural, intellectual, and emotional level with the storytellers, hopefully moving them to incorporate safety practices into their work,” said co-author Ellen Duysen, assistant research professor, Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center.
The team coded and analyzed 11 stories from the Telling the Story Project website, which were recounted by those who survived agricultural incidents or by those who lost a family member to an incident. The authors identified common patterns and themes.
“We conducted a qualitative analysis of the interviews we did with the storytellers and broke the findings into themes and meaning units, and then looked at common verbiage,” Duysen said. “This helped us see trends in how people told their stories.”
Finding positive messages
“We gained insight into the circumstances leading up to each injury incident and valuable information on how the storytellers interpreted the aftermath,” Duysen said. “For example, the storytellers used a lot of positive wording when describing what happened, which surprised us a little, given their injuries. They said things like, ‘I was really lucky,’ and ‘Thirty years on, I am grateful for every day above ground.’”
This positivity could be used more often in safety messaging, said co-author Scott Heiberger, communications manager at the National Farm Medicine Center. “Although this is a deadly-serious topic, we have to consider that not everyone in the audience will respond to statistics and fear,” Heiberger said.
Another theme that was revealed was “working alone,” Heiberger said, as storytellers reflected on being by themselves and far from help. One recalled thinking, “I could shout all I want and no one is going to hear me.”
“We can play on that theme, too, reiterating the importance of always having our phone with us, and telling people where we’ll be and when we expect to return,” Heiberger said.
Crafting safety messages
“This analysis should help safety professionals and health educators craft messages that will resonate with the farming community,” Ploeckelman said. “Statistics alone don’t seem to motivate safety behavior change. Stories stick with us longer, especially if they are told by someone we trust, like another farmer.”
The Telling the Story Project website includes educational materials and resources, including discussion guides for educators, 4-H and FFA leaders, managers, and others looking for positive ways to start a conversation about safety. The project content is marketed using social media, press releases and feature articles in agricultural magazines and journals.
“We’re going to continue adding stories to the website, including more stories involving children and safety,” Heiberger said. “We’re also talking with agricultural communications professors at universities who are interested in using Telling the Story Project as part of their writing classes.”
Telling the Story Project is a collaboration of four agricultural safety and health centers, three of them funded by the National for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH): the Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center (UMASH), the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health (CS-CASH) and the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, as well as the National FarmMedicine Center.
Additional Journal of Agromedicine co-authors include: Risto Rautiainen, Anthony Johnson and Aaron Yoder, Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center; and Devon Charlier, Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center, University of Minnesota. The article is available at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1059924X.2024.2386105
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Telling the Story Project Graphic (.png)
Telling the Story: Mike's Story
Caption: Telling the Story Project embeds injury prevention messages into first-person accounts shared by farmers, farm workers and ranchers who have been directly involved in an agricultural incident. Image (.jpg)
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