Agriculture continues to have the largest number of injuries and fatalities compared to any other industry in the United States (Mulhollem, 2023). In 2022, agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting experienced the highest death rate per 100,000 workers out of any other industry (National Safety Council, 2024). According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (n.d.), more than two million youth under the age of 20 are exposed to agricultural-related hazards, many resulting in injury or fatalities, each year. It has been found that 48% of all youth occupational fatalities are in the agricultural industry, making youth in agriculture nearly eight times more likely to be fatally injured compared to all other occupations (Weichelt et al., 2022).
Engineering, enforcement, and education can all be used to reduce workplace injuries and fatalities (Giles et al., 2019). Education can be used to recognize, respect, and control potential hazards present in the workplace (OSHA, 2023). Safety programming is incorporated into many of the preexisting avenues for agricultural education including cooperative extension, school based agricultural education, and industry supported programs (American Farm Bureau, 2023; Hillison, 1987; NIFA, 2023). School based agricultural education (SBAE) often provides opportunities for students to learn about safety practices in the agricultural industry. Safety education has been a part of the mission of SBAE courses since the establishment in 1917 (Cheng et al., 2017). In Ohio, there were approximately 326 schools offering SBAE in 2022 (Ohio FFA, 2022).
This study used the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), Framing Theory, and semiotics to create and test advertisements for an agricultural safety education program. This research utilized an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design. Qualitative data collected from high school students were used to create frames for advertisements that were tested in the quantitative phase. Overall, this study aimed to explore what influences Ohio SBAE students' intentions to engage in agricultural safety education. For the qualitative phase, a narrative approach with inductive and line-by-line coding was used to find emergent themes for student written responses. For the quantitative phase, an experimental design with static group comparison was used. Treatments were used in a posttest only control group design.
Through the analysis of qualitative data, three major themes emerged from participants’ responses to why they engage in safety: stay alive, avoid injury, and protect others. Findings of this phase suggest students are aware of the potential dangers of not following safety behaviors. Themes were used to create advertisements with framed taglines and images which were tested through the quantitative phase. Phase two of this study tested the effectiveness of framed advertisements, created as a result of phase one, on participant intentions to engage in agricultural safety education. Participants were shown either a framed advertisement or no advertisement at all, before answering a series of questions connected to the TPB. The second objective of this study indicates relatively strong attitudes regarding agricultural safety education. For objective three, descriptive statistics were analyzed for each treatment group. The mean value for attitude was highest for treatment 4 (protect others) with an average of 5.96 (SD = 1.00) out of a seven-point scale. All TPB elements had mean values between somewhat strong to strong according to real limits. Objective four used a Fisher’s exact test to examine the difference between treatment groups and participant intentions. Although some differences are present in the proportions of participants that had intentions to engage in agricultural safety education in these treatments, there were no significant differences. For objective five, a binomial logistic regression was used to determine if TPB elements were predictors of behavioral intent. The logistic regression model was statistically significant, χ2(7) = 16.187, p < .05, meaning the model can predict intent to engage in agricultural safety education when compared to no independent variables. For objective six, five separate binomial logistic regressions were run to determine the predicting power of TPB elements on participants’ intent for each treatment group. Out of the five groups, four treatments and one control, only one model was found to be significant.
Based on the results of this study, students seem to be aware of the implications of safety and are able to communicate the impacts safety has on their lives. The severity of following safety rules and regulations is apparent in the responses received through phase one of this study. Students have strong attitudes towards agricultural safety. Some results of this study verified the Theory of Planned Behavior. Past research shows the importance of attitudes, perceived control, and norms on behavioral intention, explaining 81% of the variance (Kaiser & Gutscher, 2006). When it comes to the influence of advertising on their intentions, results are less clear. While advertisement treatment groups showed some differences in the number of students intending to engage in agricultural safety education, there was no statistical significance. Treatment groups did not show an influence on students’ intentions in this study. Through this study we are unable to identify what influences Ohio SBAE students intentions to engage in agricultural safety education.
Ultimately, it is recommended that research continue on how communication can help support safety education and awareness especially in the agricultural industry. Specifically, research should investigate more populations and media sources when looking into safety communication. It is also recommended for practitioners to provide students with opportunities to engage in agricultural safety education, due to students high intention scores. Further recommendations are presented for both research and practitioners.