U.S. flag An official website of the United States government.
Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

i

An Initial Farmer Evaluation of a NIOSH autoROPS Prototype

Public Domain


Details

  • Personal Author:
  • Description:
    This evaluation study is a part of the NIOSH safety engineering research program on developing new types of rollover protective structures (ROPS) for farm tractors. Each year hundreds of people die as a result of agricultural tractor rollovers. The use of rollover protective structures (ROPS), along with seat belts, is the best-known method for reducing the frequency of these fatalities. One impediment to ROPS use, however, is low clearance situations, such as orchards and animal confinement buildings. Adjustable ROPS have been developed by the agricultural equipment industry to address the issue of low clearance situations. If these adjustable ROPS are used properly, they are quite effective systems. The problem is that they require the operator to take an active role in making sure the ROPS is properly adjusted when not in a low clearance situation - a task some operators may not consistently perform. To address the need for ROPS that are easily adapted to low clearance situations, NIOSH researchers have developed an automatically deploying, telescoping ROPS (AutoROPS). The objective of this study was to get an initial measurement of the usability of the NIOSH AutoROPS among tractor operators who would be probable users of this new technology. The study was not intended to evaluate all of the factors in the use of the AutoROPS. This study only examines whether farmers had an initial positive interest in this new concept for preventing tractor rollover-related fatalities. The procedure for comparing the AutoROPS prototype with a foldable ROPS was of a general nature. What was being sought were general opinions about the concept. A cost comparison was not a factor in this study. However, cost-effectiveness is an important criterion in the NIOSH design. The farmer group was of the opinion that the AutoROPS deployment is more effective than the manual ROPS alternative (p<0.0001) and that the protection effectiveness provided by AutoROPS will be superior to the protection provided by manual ROPS (p<0.01). Of great prevention importance was the increase in interest in purchasing a tractor with an AutoROPS compared to purchasing a tractor with manual ROPS (p<0.0001). This result indicates that this new technology may successfully achieve wide use on the farm. Farmer opinions indicate the need for further design work to improve seating restraint and the method for lowering the structure. Based on the results of this study, NIOSH will be able to make recommendations to companies interested in developing and manufacturing an AutoROPS for the farm workplace. [Description provided by NIOSH]
  • Subjects:
  • Keywords:
  • ISSN:
    0169-8141
  • Document Type:
    Text
  • Genre:
    Journal Article
  • Place as Subject:
  • 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:
    155-165
  • Volume:
    34
  • Issue:
    3
  • NIOSHTIC Number:
    nn:20025697
  • Citation:
    Int J Ind Ergon 2004 Sep; 34(3):155-165
  • Contact Point Address:
    Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 1095 Willowdale Road, Morgantown WV 26505-2888
  • Federal Fiscal Year:
    2004
  • NORA Priority Area:
    Research Tools and Approaches: Control Technology and Personal Protective Equipment
  • Peer Reviewed:
    True
  • Source Full Name:
    International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:f9302aaddb56fde50209642d040714183c13e79ba8209978b7d2bd0f3a5b12ed1f7780a59601d96ec3ccb9735d4748f094ede194264de7d29560094ea6c23c3f
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 569.20 KB ]
PREVIOUS
ON THIS PAGE
Details
CDC STACKS serves as an archival repository of CDC-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other public health information authored or co-authored by CDC or funded partners.

As a repository, CDC STACKS retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.
BACK TO TOP