Cost-effectiveness of roll-over protective structures

✍ Scribed by Regina Pana-Cryan; Melvin L. Myers

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 78 KB
• Volume: 42
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0271-3586
• DOI: 10.1002/ajim.10080

✦ Synopsis

Background:

Roll-over protective structures (rops) are proven to prevent fatalities from agricultural tractor overturns, accounting for more than one-third of all production agriculture-related fatalities in the united states. in 1997, there were approximately 1.2 million rops-retrofittable tractors in the united states.

Methods:

A decision analysis is used to compare the health outcomes of installing rops on retrofittable tractors, relative to doing nothing. a cost-effectiveness analysis builds on these results to assess the costs and benefits of installing rops on retrofittable tractors.

Results:

Doing nothing would result in 1,450 fatalities and 1,806 nonfatal injuries, while installing rops would prevent 1,176 fatalities and 957 nonfatal injuries. installing rops would cost $489,373 per injury prevented.

Conclusions:

Installing rops on retrofittable tractors would reduce fatalities from tractor overturns by more than 80% and nonfatal injuries by about 53%. the cost per injury prevented would be similar to that of other injury-preventing interventions. rops would help prevent additional injuries from falling off tractors and tractor collisions with motor vehicles.