Farmer crushed under a skid-steer loader bucket.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Johnson, Wayne ; Rautiainen, Risto
• Corporate Authors:
  Iowa Fatality Assessment & Control Evaluation Program (Iowa FACE) ; University of Iowa. College of Medicine. Institute for Rural and Environmental Health
• Description:
  In the spring of 1997 an Iowa farmer was killed while using his skid steer loader to move rocks and remove bushes from a fenceline. He had attached a chain from the bucket to a shrub, and after partially pulling out the shrub, he apparently leaned forward out of the loader cage to remove or adjust the chain. It appears he slipped or inadvertently stepped on the right foot pedal, which immediately lowered the lift arms and the bucket, pinning him to the frame of the machine. Another possibility is that while pulling out the shrub, the chain slipped or the shrub gave way, causing the loader to buck up and down, throwing the man forward out of his seat. The machine had a seatbelt, but the man was not using it. He was working alone, out of sight from the farmstead
  
  it was two hours before he was found dead at the scene by a family member. The skid-steer loader was still running when the man was found. The farmer's son, who had occasionally operated the machine, observed that it was having jerky movements during the few weeks prior to the injury, movements that could have been a factor in this fatality. A seat-actuated electro-hydraulic interlock had been by-passed long ago, therefore there was nothing to prevent the bucket from falling if the pedals were moved, even if the operator was not in the seat. The machine was manufactured in 1972. Recommendations based on our investigation are as follows: 1. Owners/operators of skid-steer loaders should not disable or alter factory-installed or retrofitted safety features. 2. Operators of skid-steer loaders should be educated regarding safe use of their machines. 3. Manufacturers should provide reliable mechanisms to prevent the loader bucket from falling unintentionally. 4. Machine operators must keep their equipment in proper working order, to ensure its dependability and safety.
  
  
• Content Notes:
  Publication Date provided by FACE program
  
  not printed on the report.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Agriculture Farmers Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Safety Management Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Agricultural-industry Agricultural-machinery Agricultural-workers Equipment-operators Equipment-reliability Injuries Injury-prevention Machine-operation OSHA Region 7 Protective-measures Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-areas Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Agriculture ; Machine (All) ; Machine - Farming ; Prevention through Design (PtD)
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE97IA031
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Iowa ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  5 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20028277
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2007-108697
• 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 97IA031, 1997 Nov ; :1-3
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1998
• Performing Organization:
  Iowa Department of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  11 - Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1992/09/30
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:21ac3e10bc7190ab63b5f6c335a1fa289fd6b9fba8959784e6badbbd3e0de86137438e51505bb1dbb9679caceb5d8ef172b029ad2292e9b72e8627aca4f7bfb7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/166818/cdc_166818_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 22.45 KB ]