Farmer crushed under bucket of a skid-steer loader.
Authors
Iowa Department of Public Health
Source
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 03IA054, 2004 Mar; :1-6
During the fall of 2003, a 46-year-old Iowa farmer was killed while operating a skid-steer loader on his farm. He had purchased the loader recently, and was using it to remove corn fines from a grain handling area into an adjacent field. While doing this, he apparently backed the loader into a 1,000 gallon (3800 L) propane tank and knocked it off its concrete block foundation. The tank tipped over sideways towards a grain dryer, which was running, and the valve on top of the tank hit a post and started venting propane. The LP tank was nearly empty and was to be filled that morning. The farmer positioned the skid-steer loader near one end of the tank, with the bucket raised and the engine running. He apparently leaned or stepped out of the loader, and accidentally activated the foot pedal controlling the height of the loader lift arms. As the bucket came down, he was pinned under the bucket against the loader frame on the left front side. The farmer was working alone and the exact circumstances of this incident are unknown. It is likely he noticed the propane leak from the sound or the odor, and was in a hurry to close the leaking valve. The position of the loader suggests he may have been planning to get a chain and raise the tank back up with the loader bucket. This 1980 model loader showed significant wear from previous use. The foot pedals on both sides had worn linkages, and metal risers had been added to the heel portions of the pedals to allow more normal use of the pedals. These risers reduced room and added clutter in the tight space for the pedals, however, it's not clear whether they contributed to this incident. Sometime after the incident, a propane delivery truck arrived to fill the empty tank. The driver discovered the victim and called 911 for help, but by this time the farmer was already dead at the scene. The deliveryman turned off the grain dryer and called a relative. The victim was a life-long farmer and had used many types of farm machinery, however, he had purchased this used skid-steer loader only three weeks prior to his death and may not have been very familiar with its operation. Recommendations based on our investigation are as follows: 1. Manufacturers should provide reliable safety features to prevent operators from being crushed under skid-steer loader buckets. 2. Skid-steer loader operators should not exit or enter the loader under a raised bucket. 3. Owners of skid-steer loaders should not modify machine controls.
Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the CDC website.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal website.
Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website.
You will be subject to the destination website's privacy policy when you follow the link.
CDC is not responsible for Section 508 compliance (accessibility) on other federal or private website.
For more information on CDC's web notification policies, see Website Disclaimers.
CDC.gov Privacy Settings
We take your privacy seriously. You can review and change the way we collect information below.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
Cookies used to make website functionality more relevant to you. These cookies perform functions like remembering presentation options or choices and, in some cases, delivery of web content that based on self-identified area of interests.
Cookies used to track the effectiveness of CDC public health campaigns through clickthrough data.
Cookies used to enable you to share pages and content that you find interesting on CDC.gov through third party social networking and other websites. These cookies may also be used for advertising purposes by these third parties.
Thank you for taking the time to confirm your preferences. If you need to go back and make any changes, you can always do so by going to our Privacy Policy page.