It’s Time for a Change, One Way or Another

Details

• Personal Author:
  Myers, John R.
• Description:
  The rallying cray for agricultural safety and health for over half a century has been tractor overturns, which kill between 150 and 250 farm workers each year in the U.S. The most interesting aspect of this issue is that the solution to the problem has existed about forty years - an engineering intervention that has been tested, certified, and proven effective. The effectiveness of this intervention has been shown not just in some esoteric experimental sense, but through clearly documented decreases in tractor overturn fatalities on a national scale (Thelin, 1990). This intervention not only provides proven protection from tractor overturns, but when used as recommended, reduces the risk of death from operators falling from moving tractors, and from collisions between tractors and other vehicles on public roadways. In fact, the effectiveness of this intervention would classify it as a "wonder drug" if we were discussing a vaccine for some chronic disease. What is this "wonder drug," this proven saver of lives? It is the roll-over protective structure, more commonly known by its acronym, the ROPS. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Mortality Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Occupational Injuries Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Safety Management
• Keywords:
  Agricultural-industry Agricultural-machinery Agricultural-workers Injuries Mortality-data Mortality-rates Occupational-accidents Occupational-hazards Occupational-health Risk-analysis Risk-factors Safety-measures Safety-programs Surveillance Tractors Traumatic-injuries

  More +
• ISSN:
  1074-7583
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  3-5
• Volume:
  10
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20025695
• Citation:
  J Agric Saf Health 2004 Feb; 10(1):3-5
• Email:
  jrmyers@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1a70b1077000d83e7f9fcc9f90ed20ff1154af842c70447e78ca6b03d3f3074e10c53d8abf98b3288b1871ee35b2888a6ed7e020886ab4b8e501ffbbe1048b77
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/196960/cdc_196960_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 318.89 KB ]