Tractor moving large round bale on loader forks overturned onto farmer.
Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE 05IA013, 2007 Aug; :1-6
A 51-year-old male farmer was moving a large round bale of hay from a delivery trailer to a hoop-style manger in his cattle yard. The tractor had a narrow front axle with a front-end loader attached to the tractor's frame. The tractor did not have a roll-over protective structure (ROPS) installed on it. The bale was held high by the homemade forks mounted to the loader's lift arms. The yard sloped downhill and to the right ahead of the tractor. The tractor's left rear wheel came off the ground as the tractor moved forward then tipped to the right and continued to overturn onto its top. The driver of the delivery truck, and the farmer's friend who was tending the gate to the cattle yard, rushed to extricate the farmer who was pinned face down in the muck under the left rear wheel of the overturned tractor. Emergency assistance was summoned immediately and law enforcement personnel arrived within ten minutes. Continued resuscitation efforts by emergency medical responders were unsuccessful and the farmer was pronounced dead at the scene. RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Agricultural tractors should be equipped with roll-over protective structures (ROPS) or be used to perform tasks with negligible risk of an overturn. 2. ROPS should be designed and readily available for all makes and models of agricultural tractors in common use. 3. Front-end loaders should not be installed on narrow-front-axle tractors that do not have ROPS. 4. Tractor operators handling large round bales should follow manufacturer recommendations for proper equipment, installation, set up, ballasting, and safe operating practices.
Region-7; Accident-analysis; Accident-potential; Accident-prevention; Accidents; Injuries; Injury-prevention; Traumatic-injuries; Motor-vehicles; Equipment-design; Agriculture; Agricultural-machinery; Farmers; Engineering-controls; Tractors
Field Studies; Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation
NTIS Accession No.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Iowa Department of Public Health