Rancher falls from haystack in Wyoming.
NIOSH 1994 Mar; :1-3
A 61 year old male died from injuries suffered when he fell from a haystack while working with a hay crew in a rural area. Co-workers attempted resuscitation procedures. When the ambulance arrived, attendants were told that the victim had suffered a heart attack while lifting a hay-bale. After arriving at the hospital, they found that the victim had fallen 10 to 12 feet from the top of a haystack, and that co-workers had picked him up and propped him against a hay bale to attempt resuscitation. He was found to have spinal and rib injuries, combined with anoxic encephalopathy and hypothermia. After admission to ICU and consultation with the family, the victim was taken off the respirator and survived several hours, expiring approximately 14 hours after the incident occurred. Employers may be able to minimize the potential for occurrence of this type of incident through the following precautions: 1. Discourage farm workers from accepting help with farm work from someone who has been drinking. 2. Provide CPR or, at a minimum, basic First Aid training to farm and ranch operators and employees.
Region-8; 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; Farmers; Age-factors; Agricultural-industry; Agricultural-workers; Agriculture; Alcoholic-beverages; Drug-abuse; Substance-abuse
Field Studies; Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation
NTIS Accession No.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Wyoming Department of Health