Fatality Narrative: Pesticide Handler Run Over by Tractor

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  On October 15, 2013, a 34-year-old agricultural pesticide handler died when he was run over by a tractor. On the day of the incident, there were two workers employed by different employers who were working to apply a soil fumigant pesticide to a field. One worker was a certified pesticide handler (victim) whose task was to load the fumigant from stationary field tanks into trailer-mounted tanks being pulled by tractors. He had been at this site for about a week. The other worker was a tractor operator/pesticide applicator who was operating a tracked tractor pulling a 1,600-gallon trailer-mounted pesticide tank to fumigate his employer's fields. The two workers started work at 1:30 p.m. and were scheduled to work to 11:30 that evening. At about 7:20, the victim exited his parked pickup truck on the edge of a field and walked toward the tractor, which was actively applying fumigant. He did not communicate with the operator. As it was dark and the victim was not wearing a high visibility vest, the tractor operator did not see the victim approaching the moving tractor until he was a short distance away. He began to slow the tractor from about 5.5 mph to 5 mph. The victim approached the tractor's left side and reached for the cab access ladder handrail and attempted to place his left foot on the ladder's bottom step. As he was attempting to mount the ladder of the moving tractor, his right leg was caught by the left rear track and he was pulled under and run over by the track. Investigators determined that the victim had previously ridden along with the operator, but he had entered the operator's cab only when the tractor was stationary after the victim had refilled the tractor's pesticide tank. The tractor operator's manual stated that the extra seat in the cab is to be used only for instructional and service diagnosing purposes. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Agriculture Automobiles Education Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Staff Development Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Accident Prevention Agricultural Agricultural Chemicals Agricultural Machinery Agricultural Workers Equipment Operation Fumigants Hazards Motor Vehicles Peptides Personal Protection Personal Protective Equipment PPE Safety Equipment Safety Measures Safety Practices Tractors Training Work Environment Workers

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• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Publisher:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20051486
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-131-2014, 2014 Jun; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Fatality narrative: pesticide handler run over by tractor
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d3845b463b9a2418201cd18be3702277ed4d4e2ba6476227f0cc2e877844135c34d80cc20f96e2a1e9ad22c3e906c59a4f38f46a5e27364b5d8e623744501fef
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228742/cdc_228742_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 253.68 KB ]