A 52-year-old farmer (victim) died of injuries sustained when the tractor he was driving overturned. On the day of the incident, he used a farm tractor equipped with a front-end loader to move a large round hay bale. The tractor was not equipped with a general purpose enclosed cab or a rollover protective structure and a seat belt. The victim used the tractor and loader to pick up and haul a bale along a curved field road. While he backed the tractor counter-clockwise through a curve in the field road, the left rear wheel of the tractor traveled off of the surface of the road and entered the ditch. Because of the tilt of the tractor as the left wheel traveled into the ditch and the height of the loader and bale, the tractor overturned to the left side. It came to rest upside down in the grass covered field along the side of the driveway. The overturned tractor was discovered by the victim's brother who went to the farm yard and notified the victim's wife. After she called emergency medical personnel, they returned to the scene of the incident and began to administer resuscitation efforts. Rescue personnel arrived shortly after being notified and transferred the victim to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. MN FACE investigators concluded that to reduce the likelihood of similar occurrences, the following guidelines should be followed: (1) all tractors should be equipped with a rollover protective structure and a seat belt; and (2) while in motion, tractors with loaders should be operated with the loader in the lowest possible position.
Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report for Minnesota: Farmer Dies after Tractor He was Driving Rolled Over on Him (FACE-96-MN-093-01)
1997
4 pages
Report
No indication
English