Farm worker dies after tractor overturns.
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 99WI038, 2000 Feb; :1-4
An 18-year-old male farm worker (the victim) died after the tractor he was driving overturned and he received crushing injuries from being tossed in the cab. He had been using the tractor attached to a hay rake while raking hay in a field, and was making the last turn in a 12-acre field. The tractor overturned while he was turning around on a hillside with approximately 20 grade. The tractor was equipped with a rollover protection structure (ROPS) and seatbelt, but apparently the victim was not using the seatbelt at the time of the incident. The farm owner discovered the injured victim in the cab of the overturned tractor when he went to the field to deliver sandwiches for an afternoon break. The farm owner went to a nearby house to call for emergency services, which arrived within five minutes. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene by the medical examiner. To prevent future fatalities of this type, the FACE investigator recommends farm tractor owners and operators should: 1. Always use an operator restraint system while operating a tractor equipped with rollover protective structures. 2. Evaluate the terrain prior to beginning an operation with a tractor, and plan safe strategies for addressing the hazards. In addition, farmers and other employers with workers assigned to work in isolated situations should: 3. Provide personal communication devices to workers assigned to remote worksites.
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; Farmers; Equipment-operators; Equipment-reliability; Tractors; Safety-belts