Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report for Iowa: Retired Farmer Dies in Barnyard from Tractor Rollover

摘要

A 75 year old male farmer was killed while loading manure in his barnyard. He was using a tricycle type narrow-front tractor equipped with a front-end loader to scoop up manure from the cattle yard, then load it into a manure spreader which was located downhill from him. While making a turn in reverse, with the loaded bucket in the raised position, the tractor tilted to the side and tipped over on the sloped ground. Since the tractor had no ROPS, and was positioned perpendicular to the slope, the tractor rolled completely over, crushing the victim. He was found dead at the scene a few hours later by his wife. Recommendations following our investigation were as follows: (1) Tractors used with front end loaders should be equipped with ROPS. (2) Tricycle type narrow front tractors should not be equipped with front end loaders. (3) Loading areas should be designed to minimize the risk of tractor and loader overturns. (4) Tractor front end loader operators should be made aware of overturn hazard and methods to reduce this hazard, including safe driving on sloping grounds, the changing center of gravity caused by a loader bucket, keeping the bucket low while driving, and using counterweights on the tractor.