Preventing Tractor Accidents with Young Farm Workers

Kathy Hayes on May 1, 2013 4:12:00 PM

John Deere Tractor scaledGrowing up in an agricultural community, I have a highly personal view of farming accidents. A cousin and a school friend were both seriously injured in separate harvest mishaps. 

Tractor accidents are the leading cause of accidents and death in young farmworkers. The two most common types of tractor accidents are overturning and runovers. As the name suggests, overturns occur when a tractor becomes unbalanced and flips or rolls over, often when on a slope, ditch bank, or when pulling an unbalanced or oversized load. Runovers indicate a person being run over by a tractor. These tragedies can happen when someone falls off a moving tractor or starts the tractor in gear while standing on the ground. People nearby are also run over when the operator can’t see them.

1. General Tractor Safety Suggestions
     Learn proper safety practices
     Make sure work instructions are clear and understandable
     Restrict the number of people around equipment
     Always act as if the driver of equipment can’t see you

2. Safety Prevention for Overturns
     Ensure tractors are equipped with a roll bar and seatbelts
     Use seatbelts on roll bar-equipped tractors
     Use the right type of equipment for the job

       3. Safety Prevention for Runovers

  • No extra riders
  • Keep children and others away from the work area
  • Keep bypass shields on starters and electrical systems in good  working order 
  • Start the engine from the operator’s seat and avoid bypass starting
  • Shut down equipment, turn off the engine, remove the key and wait for moving parts to
  • stop before getting off the tractor
  • Use ROPS and seatbelts to prevent falls or being ejected from the tractor
  • Consider adding a safe tractor access platform to the tractor

If you have/are working in agriculture you probably know someone who has been killed or injured in a tractor accident. If not (or if you want to impress the importance of safety to youth workers), the National Agriculture Tractor Safety Initiative’s webpage has over a dozen true stories of tractor accidents written by survivors or the families of those who didn’t make it.

https://marshfieldresearch.org/nfmc/a-guide-to-agricultural-tractor-rollover-protective-structures

A Guide to Agricultural Rollover Protective Structures

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