Tractor Safety is no Accident
(Page 3 of 5)
April/May 2005
By George DeVault
Coleman has just one caution about roll bars: Your tractor will be taller with one installed. Make sure the clearance of your tractor storage shed can accommodate the new height. Foldable or “telescoping” roll bars are available for low-clearance settings. NIOSH is also testing an “Auto-ROPS” system that — somewhat like car air bags — automatically deploys a roll bar when a tractor starts to dangerously tilt .
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Run-over Injuries
Run-overs are the second most common cause of tractor-related deaths. They claim about 60 lives each year, according to NIOSH. “Operators fall from moving tractors and are crushed under the tractor, or operators are run over while standing on the ground and starting the tractor. If the tractor is in gear, it moves suddenly and runs over the operator,” the institute reports
Why on earth would someone stand directly in front of a tractor’s large rear tire and start the engine? Lots of reasons: Maybe the operator needs to raise or lower the front-end loader or the 3-point hitch while hooking up an implement, or maybe to jump-start the engine. The odds are the operator was in a hurry, a little frustrated and distracted. The tractor operator just couldn’t be bothered to take a few extra seconds to climb up to safety in the driver’s seat before turning the key
Tractor designers have tried to minimize such hazards in recent decades. The ignition of my John Deere 1050 automatically locks out whenever the gearshift, transmission or PTO is engaged. With many older tractors such as my Ford from the 1940s, the PTO must be engaged — and the engine running — before the 3-point hitch will operate
Even performing routine maintenance and repairs on a tractor while the engine is running can be dangerous. A few years ago, a friend in Virginia was working on a tractor in the relative safety of his shop when somehow he knocked the tractor into gear. The machine rolled across his torso, smashed through the barn wall and kept moving until it hit something solid enough to stop it. He was lucky: He lived, but many do not. Never position yourself in front of the tractor with the engine running
Unseen bystanders — and extra riders — also fall into the category of run-over deaths. “Children under 15 account for almost 90 percent of all such fatalities,” according to NIOSH. It’s a wonder that figure is not much higher, because “80 percent of farm children routinely ride along on tractors with family members,” the institute reports. There is only one seat and one seat belt on a tractor, whether it is a farm tractor or a lawn-and-garden tractor. The seat and seat belt are for the driver, and the driver only. There is no safe place on any tractor for another person
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