Agriculture Fatality Narrative: Farm Worker Crushed in Riding Lawn Mower Rollover: Washington Report 71-270-2025

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  A 67-year-old farm worker was crushed when his zero-turn riding lawn mower rolled down an embankment. He worked part-time for his employer, a family-run specialty vegetable farm, for four years. He was an experienced land caretaker and mowed the grass each week. He was operating the mower on top of a grassy, steep embankment between a river and a road. He began working late in the morning and drove the mower to the cutting site about a half mile from the farm's main office. Later in the day the employer noticed that the worker's car was still parked at the office. He called the worker and his foreman but got no answer. He then called his son and drove to the site to check on the worker. He found the worker unresponsive, several feet down the embankment's inner riverside slope with the overturned mower on top of him. He called 911. First responders had the employer remove the mower to free his body, but he died at the scene. No one saw the incident. Following the incident, investigators found: The worker was not operating the mower according to the manufacturer's instructions in the following instances: 1) the rollover protective structure (ROPS) was not in the upright position, 2) no seat belt was used, and 3) mowing was taking place where the risk of a rollover was high. The riding surface on top of the embankment was 12 feet wide but uneven with steep slopes on both sides, including a three foot drop off on the inner slope, that exposed the worker to rollover hazards. There were no overhead obstructions that interfered with using ROPS in the upright position. REQUIREMENTS - Employers must: Make sure employees use all power lawn mowers according to the manufacturer's instructions. RECOMMENDATIONS - FACE investigators concluded, that to help prevent similar occurrences, employers should: Require the use of a walk-behind mower or string trimmer instead of a riding mower in hazardous areas such as embankments, steep slopes, soft ground, bodies of water, edges along bodies of water, and terrain with holes, ruts, bumps or other hidden objects. Develop and enforce policy requirements for ROPS and seat belt use and mower operator safety training in their written accident prevention program (APP). At a minimum, the policy should conform to the manufacturer's safety requirements. Review requirements with supervisors and operators at safety meetings and training. Perform and document a Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) for riding mowers that identifies and assesses all associated operating hazards. Use the JHA to develop injury prevention controls or hazard solutions. Make sure that riding mower operators follow the machine manufacturer's instructions to always use ROPS in the upright position and to wear the provided seat belt. Maintain a buffer area at least as wide as the mower between hazards and the mowing area. Do not mow or operate the mower in the hazard area or buffer area. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Agriculture
  • Crush Injuries
  • Fatal Outcome
  • Occupational Health
  • Safety
• Keywords:
  • Fatalities
  • Safety education
  • Agricultural workers
  • Agriculture
  • Equipment operators
  • Safety belts
  • Rollover protective structures
  • ROPS
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  All ; Agriculture ; Motor Vehicles
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  Washington ; San Francisco Region OSHA
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1 pdf page
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20071834
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-270-2025, 2025 Sep; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2025
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  111219 - Other Vegetable (except Potato) and Melon Farming - (NAICS 2022)
• Start Date:
  2005/07/01
• End Date:
  2026/06/30
• Resource Number:
  71-270-2025
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/260056/cdc_260056_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 415.80 KB]
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:930ede61a0b661e992d8b9e9ed0419575c589491b5affd29980f0815fbe1b2641593c7f1aa1b1cf3b144be2ad458590179b96f571d2a0531e69c66e3726a07d1