Dairy Farm Worker Mauled by Either a 2-Year-Old Bull or a Dairy Cow

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Michigan Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (Project) (MIFACE) ; Michigan State University. Department of Medicine. Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• Description:
  In spring 2014, a dairy farm worker in her 40s was mauled by either a 2-year-old bull or a dairy cow. The farm worker was herding approximately 50-60 dairy cows from a freestall area (where the cows eat and stay when not being milked) into a holding pen before they enter the parlor for milking. The bull had been raised by the owner's family on the farm and freely roamed with the dairy cows. The event was unwitnessed. The owners of the farm and a family member were in the front of the barn
  
  one of the owners was tending to a sick cow and the other owner and family member were in the break area when they heard the cows bellowing. The three of them stepped out into the feed aisle and saw the bull in the feed aisle walking toward them. The bull was herded without incident to another stall. One of the owners found the worker lying face down and unresponsive under a stanchion
  
  with the upper body found in one stall and lower body in another stall. The owner rolled the worker over and began CPR while emergency response was summoned. The worker was declared dead at the scene. Contributing factors: 1. Bull freely roaming with dairy cows. 2. Worker entering stall to encourage reclining cows to stand and exit stall. 3. Possible underestimation of bull and cow aggressive behaviors. 4. Working alone with bull in dairy cow freestall. 5. Cubicle design/freestall design may not have had room for cow movement and employee escape. 6. Possible employee complacency when working around the animals and/or was distracted by other animal behaviors. RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. Establish worker rules/procedures and acceptable work practices for anyone (employee & family) working around dairy animals specific to the farm operation. One work practice should be that workers prompt animal movement from the resting position in a partitioned freestall from an empty freestall next to the animal being directed. 2. Train workers/family members to recognize animal health issues and attack scenarios and behaviors. 3. Ensure the freestall design permits cows to easily stand up when lying down in the stall to avoid animal handling & comfort issues. 4. Workers should not be permitted to be in a pen with a bull alone and should maintain constant awareness of the location and behavior of bulls when entering a holding pen. 5. Consider using artificial insemination, not a natural service bull, to impregnate cows.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Agriculture Animals Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-potential Accident-prevention Agricultural-industry Agricultural-workers Animal Aggressive Behaviors Animal Attack Scenarios Author Keywords: Bull Dairy Operation Freestall Design Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 5 Safety-equipment Safety-practices Traumatic-injuries

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Agriculture
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE14MI014
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Michigan ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-10
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20047562
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2016-102593
• Citation:
  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 14MI014, 2015 Oct ; :1-10
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2016
• Performing Organization:
  Michigan State University
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  11 - Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2005/07/01
• End Date:
  2026/06/30
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a8e3bef9f77f16817012795161c3f9dbe9adff6cfac88189450687d5f525db74d5cf334375fff906417893697c3283971403c5d7bed6fc850d84ace3f1a63217
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/165035/cdc_165035_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 226.92 KB ]