Rental property general laborer dies following a tractor roll over in West Virginia.
Authors
West Virginia Department of Health & Human Services
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 99WV035, 2000 Feb; :1-6
On June 22, 1999, a 49-year-old male rental property general laborer (victim) died of injuries sustained when the tractor he was driving rolled over while mowing. The victim was using a 26 horsepower, three cylinder diesel, four wheel drive tractor which was owned and usually operated by the property's owner. The tractor was equipped with a front end loader and a rear mounted brush hog. The operator (victim) was inexperienced in tractor operation and set-up. He was instructed by the owner to perform other assigned tasks and wait for his presence and instruction before moving the tractor out of the storage shed, setting it up, and mowing. Usual set-up included installing the tractor's rollover protective structures (ROPS) which had to be taken off in order to store the piece of equipment. The field had been graded two years prior to the incident and had never been mowed. The grading had left a fairly level area adjacent to the access road. Above this level area was a 12 foot wide ridge which ran along the woods line and created a 3 foot ledge leading down to the level area. Just prior to the fatal incident, the victim decided to access, set-up and operate the tractor without the owner being present and before receiving instruction. He began mowing the field at the highest point which was along the woods line upon the ridge. According to the owner, this ridge was not included in his mowing plans, as it was to be cut with a string trimmer. The victim was operating the tractor with its left side parallel to and within 2 feet of the ledge. He had completed 30 feet of mowing when the left front wheel and then the left rear wheel dropped off the edge causing the tractor to rollover pinning him to the ground. The tractor did not have a ROPS due to incomplete set-up. Approximately one hour later, the tractor's owner drove up to the mowing site and spotted the upside down piece of equipment. The victim was lying face up with the upside down tractor across his chest. The owner got back into his car and drove to a nearby towing business and called 911. Two of the towing business employees checked for vital signs. The EMS arrived within minutes. The tractor was removed from the victim and he was pronounced dead. The coroner estimated that the victim had died shortly after tractor impact. The WV FACE investigator concluded that to reduce the likelihood of similar occurrences, the following guidelines should be followed by tractor owners: 1. Ensure that unauthorized tractor operation is prevented by having exclusive control of the ignition key. Additionally, employees should: 2. Follow the employer's instructions concerning the scheduling and implementation of assigned tasks and pre-task training. 3. Ensure that all tractors equipped with removable or folding (ROPS) and a seat belt only be operated with the system fully installed.
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.