Farmer Dies From Being Entangled in Unguarded PTO Unit on Hay Elevator

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Wisconsin Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (Wisconsin FACE) ; Wisconsin. Division of Public Health. Bureau of Occupational Health
• Description:
  A 79-year-old male farm worker (the victim) died after becoming entangled in the rotating driveline of a portable hay elevator. The elevator was connected to a tractor equipped with a power take-off (PTO), which powered the chain and sprocket drive of the elevator. Neither the tractor PTO stub shaft, the drive line nor the chain and sprocket were guarded. The victim was working with his son (the farmer) and other family members in the farmyard, loading hay bales into the barn for animal feed. They had completed the loading activities, and the victim was in the process of cleaning and lubricating the elevator chain with an oiled cloth. He was standing next to the operating elevator, with his back to the PTO driveline, when his coat was caught and pulled by the rotating driveline. He was flipped over the driveline, and landed on the ground on the other side of the tractor, tearing his left arm off at the shoulder. A family member heard him yell and looked in the direction where the victim had been working. She saw him lying on the ground, called for help and ran to assist him. The farmer shut off the tractor and applied direct pressure to the wound while the family member called for emergency services. The ground ambulance and helicopter ambulance arrived within twenty minutes, and sheriff's deputies arrived soon after. The victim was transported to a regional trauma center by the air ambulance, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The FACE investigator concluded that, to prevent similar occurrences, farm machine/equipment operators should: 1. Identify rotating or moving machinery/equipment components, such as PTO drivelines, and ensure that appropriate guards are installed. 2. Observe and follow all applicable safety precautions when operating machinery driven by tractor power take-off equipment, including disengaging the PTO and stopping the tractor engine before approaching the machinery. 3. Avoid wearing clothing that is loose-fitting, or has portions that could be caught by moving machine parts and lead to entanglement. In addition, farmers should: 4. Include safety management as an integral part of their business operation.
• Content Notes:
  Publication Date provided by FACE program
  
  not printed on the report.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Agriculture Farmers Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Safety Management Workplace
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Agricultural-industry Agricultural-machinery Agricultural-processes Agricultural-workers Clothing Equipment-operators Equipment-reliability Injuries Injury-prevention Machine-guarding OSHA Region 5 Protective-measures Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Tractors Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-areas Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices

  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Agriculture ; Machine (All) ; Machine - Farming
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE95WI096
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Wisconsin ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20028135
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2009-102073
• 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 95WI096, 1996 Nov ; :1-4
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1997
• Performing Organization:
  Wisconsin Department of Health & Family Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  11 - Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1991/09/30
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:886301a304fc7fa41627e2caebdfe8a42c8bc5db76eabb7f889d202b7121218970210dd09a5741de0cd0e90110afbcd803fbd896d60cb17f46b47e357ff2c274
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/166907/cdc_166907_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 101.20 KB ]