Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report for New York: Farm Worker Dies during Forage Chopper Entanglement

摘要

On Saturday, September 6th, 2003, a 24-year-old farm worker was fatally injured when he became entangled while putting hay bales through a forage chopper. At the time of the incident, the victim and a co-worker had been chopping hay bales to add to the total mixed ration to be given to cows that day. In order to feed the bales through the John Deere 5400 self-propelled forage chopper, the workers were separating the bales into flakes. As they were working, the victim asked his co-worker to go get another bale while he finished chopping the bale he had already started. The co-worker left to get another bale, and while he was doing this heard the chopper belts start to squeal. He and the farm owner returned to the work area and found the victim caught in the chopper. The farm owner immediately called 911 for help. Emergency rescuers worked for over 3 hours to extricate the victim. New York State Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (NY FACE) investigators concluded that to help prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future: (1) Equipment should not be modified for purposes other than the original design; (2) Workers should not work in close proximity to potentially severe hazards; (3) Workers should not operate machinery with components missing.