Youth dies in tractor rollover attempting to pull trailer out of mud.
Source
NIOSH 2005 Sep; :1-6
Abstract
On April 21, 2003, a 15 year-old youth died when he was pinned under the tractor he was driving. The deceased had driven the tractor into the field located behind and next to the back yard of his family home to retrieve a trailer to haul wood. The trailer became stuck in the mud. The victim connected a log chain to the trailer and tried to pull it out of the mud with the Ford tractor, Model 8 N. This model has widely-spaced front wheels. Figure 1 shows the tractor after it overturned backwards. Figure 2 shows the front of the tractor facing the trailer. The victim's friend was driving past the property on the road and saw the tires of the tractor in the air. The friend turned around on the road and drove into the yard. He went to the house to see if his friend (the victim) was there, but no one answered as he called for him. He then ran out to the tractor in the field and found the victim pinned underneath the tractor. He drove to a neighbor's home to get someone to call for help. He drove back to the victim's home. In the meantime, the victim's sister who had heard the friend's truck but was unable to answer the door at the time, went out and saw the tractor upside down. She ran over and saw the victim under the tractor. She ran back into the house and called emergency medical services (EMS). Within fourteen minutes the emergency medical personnel had arrived from a nearby town and had removed the victim from under the tractor. He was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. The NIOSH FACE investigator concluded that, to help prevent similar occurrences, farmers and employers should: 1. Provide tractors equipped with rollover protective structures (ROPS) and seat belts. 2. Ensure that youth are trained in and are aware of the potential hazards associated with operating farm machinery through a formal tractor safety-training program intended for youth. 3. Ensure that the tractor is equipped with an appropriate hitch before using it to pull equipment. 4. Ensure that youth are informed that they should seek help whenever situations occur for which they lack experience or skill. 5. Know and comply with Federal and State child labor laws that are related to employment of youth in an agricultural setting.
Keywords
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; Farmers; Tractors; Age-factors; Agricultural-industry; Agricultural-workers; Agriculture; Agricultural-machinery; Training; Personal-protective-equipment; Protective-equipment; Safety-belts; Children
Document Type
Field Studies; Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation
Funding Type
Cooperative Agreement
NTIS Accession No.
PB2007-100960
Identifying No.
FACE-03WI033; Cooperative-Agreement-Number-U60-CCU-507081
Source Name
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Performing Organization
Wisconsin Department of Health & Family Services
