Farmer dies when entangled in old flight elevator PTO shaft.
Source
NIOSH 2005 Jun; :1-6
Abstract
During late winter 2004, a 45-year-old farmer was killed while helping to unload ear corn from a corn crib. The man was working with two others to load the corn into a wagon to feed cattle. The men were using a horizontal bottom conveyor to move corn out of each end of the corn crib, then, using a flight elevator to load the corn into a wagon. The elevator was powered by a typical tubular PTO (power take-off) shaft from the tractor. After emptying one side of the crib, two of the men were cleaning out the tunnel on that side while the victim was unloading corn from the other end of the crib. They heard the tractor engine slow down momentarily and went to investigate. The victim was found wrapped around the unshielded PTO shaft powering the elevator, with obvious severe injuries to one arm, leg, and his chest. After rescue crews arrived, the victim was transferred to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Recommendations based on our investigation are as follows: 1. All PTO drivelines and other exposed drivetrain components on farms should be completely shielded to prevent accidental contact by workers or helpers; 2. Farmers should ensure that workers and helpers are trained and alerted to recognize the hazards of working near PTO drivelines and other hazardous machine parts.
Keywords
Region-7; 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; Protective-measures; Equipment-design; Equipment-operators; Farmers; Agricultural-industry; Agricultural-machinery; Agricultural-processes; Agricultural-workers; Agriculture
Document Type
Field Studies; Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation
Funding Type
Cooperative Agreement
NTIS Accession No.
PB2006-111435
Identifying No.
FACE-04IA006; Cooperative-Agreement-Number-U60-CCU-708674
Source Name
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Performing Organization
Iowa Department of Public Health
