A 46-year-old male hog farmer (the victim) died after becoming entangled in the rotating driveline shaft of a portable feed grinder/mixer. The grinder was connected to a tractor equipped with a power take-off (PTO), which powered the grinder driveline and pulley system. The victim was working alone in the barnyard, grinding shelled corn for animal feed. He apparently had completed the grinding activities and was standing on ice-covered soil near the rotating driveline. Then, he either slipped and fell onto the driveline, or his clothing was caught and pulled by protruding bolts on the hub of the grinder pulley. He was spun around the driveshaft, and portions of his clothing were entangled on the driveshaft and torn from his body. A family member approached the site of the incident, noticed the victim's clothing whirling on the shaft and went to the farmhouse to call a neighbor for assistance. A neighbor arrived and shut off the PTO and the tractor. Meanwhile, the sheriff and EMS were summoned, and responded within eight minutes. The coroner's office was contacted, and pronounced the victim dead at the scene. The FACE investigator concluded that, to prevent similar occurrences, farm machine/equipment operators should: 1. Identify machinery/equipment components that are PTO driven, and ensure that appropriate guards, recommended by the manufacturer or dealer, are installed. 2. Turn off machinery/equipment before attempting to make repairs, adjustments, or perform maintenance.
Region-5; Accident-analysis; Accident-prevention; Accidents; Injuries; Injury-prevention; Traumatic-injuries; Work-operations; Work-analysis; Work-areas; Work-performance; Work-practices; Safety-education; Safety-equipment; Safety-measures; Safety-monitoring; Protective-measures; Agricultural-industry; Agricultural-machinery; Agricultural-processes; Agricultural-workers; Agriculture; Machine-guarding; Machine-operation; Clothing; Farmers; Equipment-operators; Equipment-reliability